Whales of the West Coast

Whales, although among our most important and interesting animals, have been little studied until recently. Almost a third of about seventy living cetacean species have been recorded in North American Pacific coast waters.Our word whale describes glimpses of surfacing cetaceans; its Old English root hvael means "a wheel." A large whale's rolling back often looks just like the rim of a wheel revolving below the surface. Humans have watched whales with fascination for a long time. There is an...