Whale

DK Eyewitness Books

by Vassili Papastavrou

Here is a spectacular and informative guide to whales, dolphins, seals, and manatees. Close-up color photographs of dolphins, killer whales, walruses, and more offer an intimate "eyewitness" view of these mysterious sea creatures what they look like, how they behave, and their battle for survival. See the whiskers of a walrus, inside the mouth of a killer whale, dolphins at play, male elephant seals fighting, the way a blowhole works, a sperm whale's carved tooth, and a 19th-century blubber pot. Learn how deep a sperm whale can dive, how whales use bubbles to catch fish, why sea lions bark like dogs, what baleen is used for, and why killer whales come up on the beach. Discover how humpback whales communicate, why whales leap, the world's biggest baby, why the future of whales, seals, and dolphins is threatened, why whales migrate thousands of miles, and much, much more!

The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Childrens, Nature, Reference, Animals

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Vassili Papastavrou is a Whale Biologist at IFAW in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great visual learning book. Everyone old and young can enjoy and learn from these books. I love the pictures and layouts they use to explain the topic. This is just a fun and entertaining book to read and enjoy. My highest recommendation

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book, very informative, it talks a lot of other sea animals other than whales too, I am fine with that but I suppose not everyone will be interested in everything.

[Dasun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad that there were explanations about marine mammal evolution, inside information about the marine mammals, and the social life of marine mammals. This book provides a summary without feeling bored and complicated. There’re explanations about early times of mammals back in the 2nd century BC was impressive. I was able to make the connection with the Dinosaurs Visual Encyclopedia Book I read sometime back. I would recommend this book to anyone who would love to learn about marine mammals. This contains a lot of interesting information and you would love to learn about it. This book isn’t part of a series. You could discover the secret lives of marine mammals.

[Leah Markum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time my friend and I wanted to collect all the Eyewitness books. We never got around to it, partly because our parents wanted us to keep challenging our reading level, which for us nerds that meant reading adult books. However, I find as an adult I keep coming back to teens' and children's literature. I appreciate it--the directness and conciseness--more than I would have as a kid. Sometimes I think these are better written than adult nonfiction because kids certainly have less patience than adults when it comes to reading filler.

Whale approaches all sea mammal life. Besides whales, author Papastavrou wrote about extended whale family members like dolphins and porpoises and fellow oceanic warmbloods like seals, sea lions, dugongs, and various extinct relatives. Like other natural history Eyewitness books the pages turn from basic ecology, biology, conservation, conflicts with humans, history, et cetera. Pictures of animals, historical scenes, parts of animals, tools that humans used in past situations relevant to sea mammals, plants and critters eaten by whales, and more illustrate all you could possibly want illustrated--all without 600 pages of heavy book costing between $50-$100. Yes, Eyewitness books are certainly worth more than they look.

It's a little bit of everything and a good use of my time and money. Maybe I'll have a collection of this series after all, even if it is 16 years later. This book and others like it are great. The only reason why I don't rank it a five star is because despite how compact with knowledge it is, ultimately it doesn't have the influence of a slightly larger, equally compact book that includes overarching concepts.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

These DK Eyewitness books are a huge hit at our house. They are full of interesting facts and colorful pictures. We are using these as non-fiction read-alouds for early elementary and typically cover one 2-page spread a night. (The books are aimed at Grades 3-7 for an independent reader.) The books are well-organized and contain sections at the end about jobs in and tools used for studying the topic and places to go for more information.

[Sarah Fitzsimmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whales is a great informational book about, not only whales, but also sea lions, walruses, sea cows, etc. This book has a lot of fun information that keeps you wanting to flip the page for more!
I liked this book! It would be a perfect book to have in the classroom, especially for a sea life unit! I loved the pictures!
I will definitely have this book in my classroom!!

[Yanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book on marine biology. The author cheekily shoehorns his favourite band from the 1960's into this scientific textbook with a title "I am the walrus". Great reading for youngsters, and nicely illustrated too.

[Cory 11-12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell it was whalishis.
It has alot on whales and NARWALS.
Teaches dangers of hunting these animals.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

pictures and diagrams that show how whales live and have been used historically

[Vicente Soria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lol

[Cheistian]

well done

[Lucía Díaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about discovering the world of marine mammals, ranging from whales and walruses to seals and dolphins. It shows how each mammal is structured internally and externally, how they hunt for food and socialize amongst each other, and how humans have endangered of few of these species.

I'm rating this book three stars because I wasn't enthusiastic about the layout. I did, however, enjoy the use of both actual photographs and cartoon sketches of the mammals. It was overwhelming to me to see all the images and text with no real direction on where to begin reading. I honestly couldn't wait to finish reading this messy book.

That being said, the book was still extremely informational. One fact did stick out to me and it was that a baby blue whale is as big as an elephant the day it is born. Even though the structure was a mess to me, I would still recommend this book to kids and teachers. Especially those who are interested in these marine mammals. It gives them the information they need to know about each mammal, it's habitat, and how humans have been studying them so far.