Dolphin

Animal Series

by Alan Rauch

From Flipper to SeaWorld, dolphins have long captured our hearts. We love these friendly, intelligent mammals, and they seem to return our feelings—they enjoy interacting with swimmers and have been known to encircle people under attack by sharks. Despite our familiarity with dolphins, though, we remain ill-informed about how they evolved, how they function, and how they have interacted with humans for millennia. Dolphin dives into the dolphin’s zoology, as well as its social and cultural history, to offer a comprehensive view of these delightful creatures.

 
Drawing on his years of experience working with and studying dolphins, Alan Rauch explores their propensity to live in pods and their ability to communicate through a variety of clicks, whistles, and other vocalizations. He examines their long relationship with humans, describing how they became the emblem of safe travel and charity, that the ancient Greeks featured them on coins, and that Hindu mythology associated them with Ganga, a river deity. As the rise in popularity of dolphinaria during the 1960s allowed the public access to dolphins, they became central characters in films like The Day of the Dolphin and Johnny Mnemonic and outsmarted humans in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy . Packed with images and thoughtful insights, Dolphin is a revealing look at one of our favorite sea creatures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Avesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed, in-depth book about dolphins - from their physiology to their history, you can understand everything about them as of 2013 - through reading this, I have found out all about their physiology, zoology, evolution, adaptation, species, history, mythology, intelligence, social behaviours (such as befriending other species such as whales and even playing with them!), echolocation, dangers (such as how they get trapped in nets when we farm tuna and end up dying, and through pollution and exploitation), and dolphins in popular culture.

I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in learning more about dolphins.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only an appetizer that left me hungry for more.
Dolphin encounters are not as benign as they seem.
I loved reading about dolphins in myth, and groups that believed they were descended from or related to dolphins.

What I learned: There is a town/salt mine in Australia called “useless loop” it’s near “monkey mia.”
David Wynn’s girl with a dolphin is my new favorite sculpture. An epargne is a type of fabulous serving tray, that looks like it belongs in a Dr Seuss book. Dolphins swim fastest when they are porpoising. Dolphin echolocation is sensitive enough to identify that humans, like dolphin babies, have lungs and need air. Dolphins are capable of erection at will, and they can use their tool as a tool.

[El Rato Pequeño · Rating 4 out of 5]

My fourth book in the Reaktion animal series, and thus far my favorite (Edit: ultimately bested by Donkey). Really nice writeup on dolphins (and to a small extent, other cetaceans as well) from multiple angles, from the biological over the historical to the cultural, dedicating a lot of space to describe their unique physiological characteristics as well as their long and complex relationship with humankind in history, myth and Seaworld. Alan Rauch's writing is concise, easy to digest and he clearly shows himself as passionate and well-read about the subject.