New from Harvard University Press
The Urban Whale: North
Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads
Edited By Scott D. Kraus and Rosalind M. Rolland
Harvard University Press / February 2007 / $55.00
543 pages, 34 color illustrations, 116 halftones, 48 line
illustrations, 21 tables
In 1980 a group of scientists censusing marine mammals in the Bay of
Fundy was astonished at the sight of 25 right whales. It was, one
scientist later recalled, "like finding a brontosaurus in the
backyard." Until that time, scientists believed the North Atlantic
right whale was extinct or nearly so. The sightings electrified the
research community, spurring a quarter century of exploration, which
is documented here.
The authors present our current knowledge about the biology and plight
of right whales, including their reproduction, feeding, genetics, and
endocrinology, as well as fatal run-ins with ships and fishing gear.
Employing individual identifications, acoustics, and population
models, Scott Kraus, Rosalind Rolland, and their colleagues present a
vivid history of this animal, from a once commercially hunted
commodity to today's life-threatening challenges of urban waters.
Hunted for nearly a millennium, right whales are now being killed by
the ocean commerce that supports our modern way of life. This book
offers hope for the eventual salvation of this great whale.
For more information,
including table of contents. see
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/KRAURB.html.
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