Quotes About Whales

Whales might not lie, but like anybody else, Sean suspected they probably wanted to put the best spin they could on an error in judgment when called to account for their actions.

Fishin' for whales is a nice gentle sport as long as you don't catch any.

It's time to end the cruel slaughter of whales and leave these magnificent creatures alone.

There is a big difference between living in a society that hunts whales and living in one that views them. Nature is being reduced to precious demonstrations for entertainment and education, something far less natural than hunting. Are we headed for a world where nothing is left of nature but parks?

His hypothesis was that the whales store entire incidents in that array, including sights, sounds, and even feelings, and that they

We are like the whales that live in the sea, he said, civilizations without artifacts, living between stone and sky in our islands in the northern oceans.

Not long ago, a whale biologist named Phillip Clapham sent me a photograph that illustrates the consequences of life without a doorman. Like most creatures that swallow their food whole, sperm whales have a limited-to-nonexistent sense of taste. The photo is a black-and-white still life of twenty-five objects recovered from sperm whale stomachs. It's like Jonah set up housekeeping: a pitcher, a cup, a tube of toothpaste, a strainer, a wastebasket, a shoe, a decorative figurine.

Such.... evenhandedness. If we are exploiting one kind of animal, by this standard, why then it is only fair to exploit all others of comparable capacities. From there Mr. Komatsu returns to his collective guilt theme: Who are we to judge X when we ourselves are doing the same thing, and where do Westerners get off judging Japan or any other culture, and just what is so special about whales?

The women of his family would become one with the earth's creatures only by pressing the bones of whales against their rib cages until breathless.

You can't save the whales by eating whales, but paradoxically, you can help save rare, domesticated foods by eating them. They're kept alive by gardeners who have a taste for them, and farmers who know they'll be able to sell them. The consumer becomes a link in this conservation chain by seeking out the places where heirloom vegetables are sold, taking them home, whacking them up with knives, and learning to incorporate their exceptional tastes into personal and family expectations.

I love all animals. I have a fascination with fish, birds, whales - sentient life - insects, reptiles.

I write many essays on whales. I love whales, especially orcas. And dolphins.

Ice lies on water as far as the eye can see: scattered rhinestones, spiral arms of ice, ice walls and icebergs, and bits of ice that have splintered off larger pieces whose translucent edges are shaped like miniature whales.

Sonar users can sense the bottom and sides of the ocean—islands, seamounts, and coasts—as well as each other, getting detailed pictures of the shapes and inner structures (as in ultrasound scans of human pregnancies—ultrasound is sonar) of potential prey, social partners, and competitors. Sonar can also alert them to the presence of predators, but primarily the sonar of the toothed whales is about finding food.

The characteristics of the dynamics of humpback whale song, evolution at a rather steady rate, with occasional revolutions, match those of human art, music, and literature. In his 1990 book, The Clockwork Muse, Colin Martindale shows that trends over time in human art and music fit with laws derived from what we know of human psychology and the principles of cultural evolution.

Alone, seated in a strange house filled with strangers, I felt as if I were in dangerous waters, swimming badly and out of my depth. I was plankton in an ocean of whales.

The Guardian reported that a beluga whale named Noc had, after seven years in captivity, begun to mimic human speech. Belugas, members of the toothed whale family along with dolphins, have been nicknamed "the canaries of the sea," for their expressive vocals.

Scientists have suggested that some whale deaths could be a result of marine noise, often a result of military activity, offshore drilling or exploration, which can disorient the animals and send them in the wrong direction, possibly toward beaches where they get stuck instead of into the deeper ocean.

I'm concerned about the ocean and the environment. And I love whales.

The indigestible parts of giant squid, in particular their beaks, accumulate in sperm whales' stomachs into the substance known as ambergris, which is used as a fixative in perfumes. The next time you spray on Chanel Number 5 (assuming you do), you may wish to reflect that you are dousing yourself in distillate of unseen sea monster.

Recently, we have learned that some matriarchal, long-lived whales, such as orcas and belugas, also experience menopause. Grandmother whales increase the survival of their grand-offspring by passing on freshly caught salmon to young calves and guarding them on the ocean surface while their mother takes off for a deep dive.43

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.

Toes are scarce among veteran blubber-room men.

Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.