Killer Whales (Blue Planet) Book

Ever since the 1993 film Free Willy first hit the silver screen, killer whales have, as Mark Cawardine says in Killer Whales, a companion book to the hugely successful Blue Planet, touched the hearts of millions of people. Despite the forbidding name, killer whales are complex, endearing and enigmatic creatures, with some intriguing similarities to humans. Nevertheless, along with some sharks, killer whales are top predators in oceans of the world and will hunt down seals, penguin, other whales and squid. The stunning but chilling pictures of killer whales beaching themselves to catch basking sealions are unforgettable. And yet, they are also sociable animals with close-knit family ties who rarely attack humans. Cawardine is a zoologist, broadcaster and author of numerous natural history books and as he explains, these remarkable animals are in fact dolphins although they are closely related to the whales. Our common use of the names dolphin, whale and porpoise is very confusing but Cawardine expertly introduces the whole complex issue of their classification and evolution for the general reader. Indeed Killer Whales, with its beautiful colour illustrations and photographs on nearly every page, serves very well as a general introduction and companion volume to Dolphins by Michael Bright, one of the other books in the series. Conservation and protection issues are addressed and there is an index and further information section with books and Web sites. This is ideal introductory reading for all ages from 10 to 100. --Douglas PalmerRead More