Documents three species--polar bears, elephants, and humpback whales--as they journey through the seasons, capturing their migrations, their struggles to survive, and the impact environmental changes have on their lives.
Marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn is researching humpbacked whales off the coast of Maui--in particular, why they sing. The question has Nate and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing any large marine mammal that crosses their path. Then, one extraordinary day, a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite me. Then, when a roll of film returns from the lab missing the crucial tail shot--and their research facility is summarily trashed--Nate realizes that something very fishy indeed is going on. The weirdness only gets weirder when a call comes in from Nate's big-bucks benefactor saying that a whale has made contact--by phone. And it's asking for a hot pastrami and Swiss on rye.
Recounts how a young humpback whale entered the San Francisco Bay in 1985 and swam seventy miles inland before being led back to the sea by people concerned for his welfare.
A photographic introduction to humpback whales and their family, discussing their physical characteristics, where they live, their senses, defenses, food, babies, and behaviors, and including fast facts and a glossary.
