Whale Quest: Working Together to Save Endangered Species

by Karen Romano Young

Overview

Decades of commercial whaling nearly decimated a variety of whales considered a keystone species. Keystone species are indicators of the overall health of Earth's habitats. While whales have made a comeback through an international ban on commercial whaling, they are still threatened with extinction. Global warming, water and noise pollution, and commercial shipping and fishing are among the most serious threats to whale survival. Meet the scientists, citizen scientists, researchers, whale watching guides, and other concerned citizens who are working together to protect whale populations around the globe. Learn about whale biology, habitats, and behavior, and discover more about the high-technology tools that help researchers in their work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781512467932
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Karen Romano Young has dived to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a tiny submarine, crunched through Arctic ice in an icebreaker, and visited labs, museum workshops, and research institutions across the U.S. to write and draw about science. She was a lead science communications fellow aboard Dr. Robert Ballard's research ship E/V Nautilus.

Karen has written and/or illustrated more than 30 books for children and is the creator of Humanimal Doodles, a science comic. Her nonfiction books include Try This! and Try This Extreme! (National Geographic). Her fiction work includes The Beetle and Me: A Love Story; the graphic novel Doodlebug: a Novel in Doodles; and Hundred Percent. Her next book for Twenty-First Century Books is Whale Quest.

Karen lives with her family in the woods of Bethel, Connecticut. Her next adventure is a stint at Palmer Station, Antarctica, as the recipient of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Grant. She has not yet traveled to space.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Out of the Deep 4

Chapter 1 What's a Whale? 8

Chapter 2 Hunting Down Whales 18

Chapter 3 Whales Get a Closer Look 28

Chapter 4 Schooling with Whales 38

Chapter 5 What Do Cetologists Do? 46

Chapter 6 Listening for Whales 56

Chapter 7 From Snotbots to Feces Finders 68

Chapter 8 Captive Whales 76

Chapter 9 Rescuing Whales 84

Chapter 10 Citizen Whale Science 94

Afterword: The Whales are Missing 100

Whale Guide 104

Source Notes 114

Glossary 117

Selected Bibliography 119

Further Information 120

Index 124

Editorial Reviews

"A succinct and valuable introduction to whales . . ."—VOYA

From the Publisher

06/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—Whales have long captured the human imagination, from the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale to Herman Melville's Moby-Dick to the 1993 film Free Willy. Young explores these majestic animals in 10 fact-filled chapters. Readers learn about the whale family tree and the 80-plus whale species that exist, as well as how these animals eat, breathe, mate, and migrate. The author also examines the booming whaling industry of the 19th century and its devastating effects on global whale populations. Subsequent chapters focus on the efforts of organizations such as the International Whaling Commission to protect whales and the attempts of cetologists to research and understand whales in order to better safeguard them and the oceans they inhabit. Interspersed throughout the text are photographs and "Whale To Watch" sidebars that highlight individual specific cases. An extensive amount of back matter concludes the volume. VERDICT Whale lovers and budding oceanographers will surely appreciate this thorough title.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn

School Library Journal

2017-05-15
Threats to whale populations are abundant, but there are many human allies working together around the world to protect their fragile populations.Young explores how cetologists, researchers, and citizen scientists work individually and cooperatively to protect whales from such hazards as climate change, commercial fishing and shipping, water and noise pollution, and unregulated whale-watching tourism. Before going into specifics about conservation efforts, Young explains the evolution and nature of cetaceans, how the whaling industry brought many species to the brink of extinction, and early conservation efforts that resulted in the establishment of the International Whaling Commission. She also notes how popular films such as Free Willy and Whale Rider and award-winning documentaries like Blackfish and Dolphin Cove have helped spread appreciation for cetaceans and raised public consciousness about conservation issues. One chapter explores the controversy of whale captivity, with Sea World at the center of a widespread public backlash against the practice. For those with a taste for the icky and gross, Young explores how much researchers can learn from whale feces and snot. A closing guide to whale species offers a sobering reminder of the terrible toll taken on whales by humans. The blue whale population, for example, is estimated now at 5,000, down from a pre-hunting population of 200,000. An informative, well-researched, and engagingly written look at global efforts to protect Earth's largest mammals. (maps, photos, source notes, glossary, bibliography, further reading) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews