Book ID: CBB149588543

Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator (2018)

unapi

Colby, Jason M. (Author)


Oxford University Press


Publication Date: 2018
Physical Details: 408
Language: English

Since the release of the documentary Blackfish in 2013, millions around the world have focused on the plight of the orca, the most profitable and controversial display animal in history. Yet, until now, no historical account has explained how we came to care about killer whales in the first place. Drawing on interviews, official records, private archives, and his own family history, Jason M. Colby tells the exhilarating and often heartbreaking story of how people came to love the ocean's greatest predator. Historically reviled as dangerous pests, killer whales were dying by the hundreds, even thousands, by the 1950s--the victims of whalers, fishermen, and even the US military. In the Pacific Northwest, fishermen shot them, scientists harpooned them, and the Canadian government mounted a machine gun to eliminate them. But that all changed in 1965, when Seattle entrepreneur Ted Griffin became the first person to swim and perform with a captive killer whale. The show proved wildly popular, and he began capturing and selling others, including Sea World's first Shamu.Over the following decade, live display transformed views of Orcinus orca. The public embraced killer whales as charismatic and friendly, while scientists enjoyed their first access to live orcas. In the Pacific Northwest, these captive encounters reshaped regional values and helped drive environmental activism, including Greenpeace's anti-whaling campaigns. Yet even as Northwesterners taught the world to love whales, they came to oppose their captivity and to fight for the freedom of a marine predator that had become a regional icon. This is the definitive history of how the feared and despised "killer" became the beloved "orca"--and what that has meant for our relationship with the ocean and its creatures.

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Reviewed By

Review Jen Corrinne Brown (2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". American Historical Review (pp. 1917-1918). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Review Jakobina Arch (April 2019) Review of "Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator". Environmental History (pp. 391-392). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB149588543/

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Authors & Contributors
Barthelemess, Klaus
Svanberg, Ingvar
Rossi, Michael
Felix Lüttger
Yulian Konstantinov
Leslie K. Miller
Concepts
Whales
Natural history
Endangered species
Animals
Zoology
Predators
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
21st century
20th century, late
Medieval
Places
United States
Sweden
Pacific Ocean
Northwest Passage
Danube river
Western states (U.S.)
Institutions
American Museum of Natural History, New York
United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842)
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