Veľryby: ilustrovaný sprievodca

by Kelsey Oseid

Samice vorvaňa tuponosého sa starajú aj o mláďatá iných samíc.

Delfínovce amazonské sú ružové.

Veľryby, delfíny a sviňuchy patria medzi najpozoruhodnejšie zvieratá na svete a ľudskú predstavivosť pútajú už celé stáročia. Nádherne ilustrovaný sprievodca prináša základné, ale aj najzaujímavejšie fakty o týchto obľúbených živočíchoch – od ich záhadnej evolúcie zo suchozemských cicavcov na morské až po stavbu ich tiel, zvláštne schopnosti, biotopy a veľa ďalších zaujímavostí. Venuje sa aj špeciálnym vzťahom medzi veľrybami a človekom, ich situácii v dnešnom svete a možnostiam, ako zabezpečiť prežitie týchto nádherných tvorov aj do budúcnosti.

Vráskavec obrovský je najväčší živočích, aký kedy žil na našej zemeguli.

Vráskavec dlhoplutvý loví korisť do sietí z bublín.

Medzi narvalmi majú kel iba samce

Z anglického originálu Whales: an Illustrated Celebration (Penguin Random House, New York 2018) preložil Milan Thurzo.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Picture Books, Nature, Animals, Childrens, Natural History

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2019

About the author

Kelsey Oseid is an illustrator, painter, artist, and amateur naturalist. She has illustrated a variety of children's books and runs an online shop where she sells prints and original pieces of her nature-themed work. Her work has been featured on Design*Sponge, Oh So Beautiful Paper, Everglow Handmade, and in magazines like Organic Life, Anthology, and Good Housekeeping. She is the author of What We See in the Stars and Whales- An Illustrated Celebration.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelsey Oseid's illustrations -- apparently scientifically accurate but also appealingly tinged with personality and emotion -- make the enormous amount of up-to-date information in this book surprisingly digestible. I thought I knew a lot about whales before, but I now realize my previous knowledge was quite scattershot: not grasping the intricacies of cetacean taxonomy meant I used to be confused about which whales are closely related to which, which can echolocate and which cannot, etc. In hindsight, this is not surprising: without a good teacher, taxonomy can be as dry a subject as Biblical genealogies -- all those hard-to-remember polysyllabic names slushing through the sieve of one's mind. By providing a color illustration of each whale species alongside one or two distinctive and memorable facts about it (e.g., the northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, is "known for refusing to leave its wounded companions, which made it vulnerable to whalers"), and by presenting each species in the context of its genus and family, Oseid made whale taxonomy legible to me for the first time. Likewise, her pictures make distinctions like the difference between the whale behaviors of breaching and spy-hopping clearer than a thousand words could. The book includes sections on whale evolution, feeding, habitats, familial and social life, and interactions with humans, including environmentalist considerations. Though this book is seemingly intended for adults (the language, while perfectly lucid, is not simplified to the level typically associated with children's books), I think it could still be appropriate as a gift for all ages -- younger children could start by focusing on the images and gradually grow into the words.

[Shandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulously illustrated and full of fun whale facts -- a one-sitting delight and a must-read for the cetacean-mad.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated and full of fascinating information!

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is everything I ever wanted to read as a budding young zoologist. As a grown zoologist it was still a magical experience <3 Love the scientific focus of the book, love how up-to-date the science was. I was entranced by the art, it's gorgeous and detailed and beautiful. Everything I was hoping for :-)

[Mag · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good basic introduction to anything cetacean and how to differentiate among species of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Good for any age I would think.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple illustrated book on whales that takes little time to read, it is full of information that I found fascinating. We had a gray whale out front yesterday. They don't usually winter here. This book mentions how far some gray whales travel between mating and feeding grounds (We are a feeding ground). Some have gone as far as 14,000 miles! Other intriguing tidbits? The blue whale is bigger than any dinosaur that ever lived. There are some deep ocean beaked whales that have never been observed in the wild. We only know about them because of "strandings". Some whales have already gone extinct. River whales exist. One is already probably extinct and the other about to be because of our choice in polluting our rivers. There is so much CO2 in the air now, that it is acidifying the water, which may be killing off the food that whales eat and ruining their habitat. All that water, 70th of the world's surface, and it still isn't safe. On the plus side, many whale species that were almost hunted to extinction by the mid-1900's are now coming back in numbers. And my personal favorite. A humpback whale was sighted turning over on its back and putting a baby seal that had been bumped off its ice by Orcas on its stomach and carrying it to safety. Isn't nature amazing?

[Shaie F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this brought back a lot of the excitement I had as a kid first learning about whales. They are just so gosh-darn cool. Some reasons whales are amazing:

- Lots of whales, especially the Humpback, will be helpful and kind to other species for no reason whatsoever. They’ll help a stranded seal get back onto its ice floe or play with a dolphin.
- They sing. I wish we knew what their songs meant. I like to think they are sea-shanties.
- Female sperm whales will babysit calves while their mums dive for food.
- Some whales can let half of their brain sleep while the other half scans for trouble and reminds them to come up for air. Then they switch sides.
- Whale pods are like their own little tribe. They have their own unique songs, hunting techniques, and preferred food sources, which get passed down from one generation to the next.
- Blue whales are the largest animal that has ever existed on earth in the history of Ever. Bigger than Megalodons or T-Rexes.
- Some whales (like the Bowhead Whale) can live 200+ years. Which means they were alive in the whaling days of Moby Dick fame.

[danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

“as humans, we tend to believe that we exist apart and above other life on earth— that we, as critical thinking, free willed, emotional beings, are smarter than any other species. this belief in our own superiority is called ‘human exceptionalism.’ in some ways it makes sense. after all, we’re the species whose population has exploded into every corner of the earth, and whose actions have incredibly wide consequences for all the planet’s life forms. however, when we look closely at the lives of cetaceans, human exceptionalism starts to feel a little ridiculous. familiar pieces of our lives are mirrored in those of our cetacean cousins— when they babysit their sisters’ young calves, when they perform seemingly altruistic acts, even on behalf of other species; when they invent new hunting methods and pass them down through the generations. the more we learn about cetaceans, the more our differences seem to dissolve away, along with the notion that we alone are the only intelligent, compassionate beings on the planet.”

this was a dope read, HIGHLY recommend. i fucking love whales

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Whales: An Illustrated Celebration” is a delightful overview of cetaceans, their evolution, habitats, interactions, and relationship to humans. The illustrations are detailed enough to be very informative, but are also high quality art pieces in themselves. The book is simple enough to be a read-aloud for children, but informational enough to be interesting to adults. I highly recommend the book to anyone even slightly interested in whales or life in the ocean.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful but a little boring.

[Turquoise Tyto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning illustrations accompanied by beautifully written descriptions of whale behaviours, classification, conservation, and so much more! Learnt so much and the artwork was so delightful ^_^

[Iida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man I love whales

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love whales.

[Viktória Vojteková (The_books_hunter) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vedeli ste, že Vráskavec dlhoplutví loví korisť do sietí z bublín?

Ka som to nevedela, ale vďaka tejto knižke som sa to dozvedela. A nie len to. Aj mnoho iných zaujímavých veciach o tychto úžasných živočíchoch.

Tento ilustrovaný sprievodca je o veľrybotvarých cicavcov, ktoré má už dlhšie fascinujú a keď som zbadala v kníhkupectve túto knižku, ešte k tomu za super cenu, tak som ju okamžite brala so sebou.

Táto knižka ponúka základné a zaujímavé fakty o týchto fascinujúcich živočíchoch. Nachádzajú sa to kapitoly o ich evolúcií, ale aj kapitoly, ktoré popisujú jednotlivé druhy a vďaka tomu máte o nich krásny prehľad. Nechýbajú ani informácie ako sa živia a čím sa živia. Dozviete sa aj o ich habitatoch či dokonca o tom ako fungujú ako rodina alebo o tom, že majú vlastné spoločenstvo. A na záver nemôže chýbať kapitola o nás ľuďoch a našom vzťahu k nim.

Na záver máme aj jednu stránku venujúcu sa tomu ako sa dá veľrybam pomôcť.

Všetko je doplnené o nádherné ilustrácie a vďaka tomu je to krásny kúsok do vašej knižnice. Ale aj potrebná a užitočná kniha, pokiaľ sa chcete dozvedieť viac o samotných veľrybach.

[Charles Hegedus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This "illustrated celebration" of whales is just that: a fun, lighthearted and informative introduction to cetology. Each page is a work of art in itself. It is clear Oseid poured her heart into this book; it is equal parts entertaining and educational.
I developed an appreciation of marine life from a very early age, but never explored it much beyond the surface. This book is perfect for someone like me. It introduces readers to the basic tenets of oceanography while maintaining a light atmosphere with its illustrations. I believe this book has the ability to appeal to readers of many different ages.

[Kaley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for my partner for Christmas and we sat down and read it together. I was first drawn to the gorgeous illustrations, but they're not all this book has going for it. There's so much new information as well (especially if, like me, you know next to nothing about whales to begin with), but it's delivered in such a way that it never feels info-dumpy, and we gladly read the whole book in one sitting.

[Katherine Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is delightful- I try to intersperse illustrated books that might be categorized as “for children” in my reading, and it is still enjoyable to read a book like this on a stressful day. Beautifully, evocatively illustrated, I highly recommend this book to cetacean fans and nature lovers of all ages. I’ll be seeking out more of Oseid’s books, and have already started her wonderful Trees: An Illustrated Celebration.

[Maisie Iven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art, great facts! Information is easy to read and follow, and the art keeps you engaged throughout!
Four, not five stars because the trim size made it kind of an awkward book to read. I couldn’t bring it with me places easily and it doesn’t live on a book shelf well because it’s so long.
Overall, highly highly recommend, especially if you love the ocean!

[Sadie Burgher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book! It was utterly delightful to spend the past and hour and a half immersed in these gorgeously illustrated pages, learning a bit more about the majesty of cetaceans. Pro tip: read this while listening to "Songs of the Humpback Whale," recorded by conservationist Frank Watlington, whose work is mentioned in the book.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an easily digestible place to start if you're interested in whales but overwhelmed by all of the science that comes with learning about them! The illustrations are stunning and I absolutely love that there's a "how to help whales" page at the back. I want everyone to read this. Whales are the best!!

[Christel Van Gemeren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally read it in one afternoon! A book with a lot of different information about all sorts of whales. I learned a lot of new things and it was also nice to read things i already knew or have memories to. Easy understandable to read and beautifully illustrated.

[Grommit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interested in whales? Use this book as a comprehensive, base-line examination of the numerous whale iterations. It is amazing how the species survived the hunting that lasted from 1600s to several decades ago. Includes other species, including dolphins, and porpoises.

[Bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous and instructive.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whales are the best.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful artwork and an informative look into the lives of whales

[Raphael Heard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all of different members of the cetacean family being listed, and each member having a nice tidbit of info about them.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of love and fascination for the lives of our cetacean "cousins". Terrifically artistically and scientifically! Just a treasure for kids and adults.

[Romy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really is a beutiful book that gives you a glimpse into the lives of whales, although I'd hoped for deeper going information

[Sirri/Sivutiellä · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, informative non-fiction book. Recommended!

[Fritz Loehrke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge, detailed, and wonderful!