The WHALE PRIMER provides a brief introduction to one of nature's most
interesting creations, the whale. The principal star of the handbook is
the California gray whale which in recent years has become a major
tourist attraction in southern California. Notwithstanding the extreme
interest, no concise interpretation of the migration has been prepared.
Although there is a tremendous number of technical and popular writings
about whales, there is still great mystery about them. Whales carry on
practically their entire lives below the surface of the sea out of reach
of man, so that most of our knowledge has been pieced together from the
study of the bodies of slaughtered whales. The literature abounds in
partial truths, misinterpretations and technicalities which confuse even
the specialists. Many of the sources of information require translation.
Furthermore, many of these papers were published in journals of limited
distribution. Others are long since out of print, and much of the
primary historic records can be found by examination of records which
exist only in one particular library. In the preparation of this
manuscript, hundreds of books and over 4,000 papers were catalogued, of
which the most important were available, and examined. The author was
particularly fortunate to have Japanese and Russian friends who gave
gladly of their time to insure coverage of these important papers.
The author deliberately made an extreme condensation of the facts in
order to prevent the reader from being overwhelmed by details that
merely obscure the broad picture. It is hoped that the reader will gain
an awareness of the extreme mastery by whales of the marine environment.
Other basic concepts of biology, which are clearly illustrated by the
natural history of whales, are developed.
The intense interest and pleasure which the sight of the migrating whale
creates clearly overshadows the brief monetary benefit that the whaling
industry might gain from slaughtering it. We hope that you will be
stimulated to join forces with those of us who feel that man should
preserve those forms of life which add so much interest, beauty, and
knowledge to man's awareness.