Gone Whaling: A Search for Orcas in Northwest Waters

His interest sparked by an exhibit at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History, the author set out for the Pacific northwest in pursuit of orcas, which are also known as killer whales. Freelance-writer Hand here takes us on a splendid whale-watching journey. After beginning with captive orcas at the Vancouver, B.C., aquarium, he moved to the Center for Whale research in the San Juan Islands, where marine biologists count and identify individual animals. Hand notes that the life expectancy for female orcas is 70 years; for males, 50 years. He next called on Paul Spong, who led the Save the Whales campaign for Greenpeace. Spong's lab on northern Vancouver Island uses hydrophones to record whale sounds. Hand also spent time in the Queen Charlotte Islands looking for orca totems and observing native craftsmen at work. This account will appeal to readers interested in whales and/or northwest folk art. Illustrations. Rodale's Nature Book Society alternate. (July)