Rambles:

The Amazing Sperm Whale

The United States whalers almost caused sperm whales to disappear.  After New Bedford stopped hunting them, the Japanese and Icelandic whalers almost finished the job.

The New York Times reports on a new book about these endangered creatures. Sperm Whales (The Gentle Goliaths of the Ocean) by Carl Safina.  It's rather pricy at $50, but I think that is a decent price for an interesting book like this.

Mr. Safina writes in his forward:  "... after near-extinction in the 1970's, many species of whales - and thus our oceans - are slowly repopulating."

With other scientists and photographer, Gaelin Rosenwaks, Mr. Safina traveled to the blue waters off of the Dominican Republic, where it seems that one can look clearly to the bottom of the sea. 

There, the crew could:

listen for the sperm whale sounds

watch sperm whale family activity

watch them dive a mile to catch squid

watch them sleep (vertically)

watch them groom

watch them nurse

watch them play

and take some fantastic pictures.

I've watched and adopted Humpback whales, but I've never seen a sperm whale in its environment.

Those of you who live in Massachusetts are missing out on a treat of a lifetime if you don't go on a whale watch.  I've been on a few, especially out of Plymouth.  (You know... near that rock!)

You won't see sperm whales, but you definitely will be entertained by humpback antics.

Think about a whale's brain. The sperm and humpback brains are much larger than ours and much more convoluted.  It's too bad that we can't communicate (mind bend?) with them.

And think about the size of the largest creature on earth today - the Blue Whale.  I read somewhere that humans could probably walk through the Blue's brain tubes without touching the sides.

By the way, I was upset to read how packs of Orcas are attacking and eating some Blues.  I hope that wasn't true.

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