Book reviews
1. Freeing Keiko: The journey of a killer whale from Free Willy to the wild
2. Listening to whales: what the orcas have taught us
3. Lonesome George: The life and loves of a conservation icon
4. The Art and Science of Clicker Training Equines by Ben Hart
More coming soon.....
For a list of recommended books see:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animal-
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Freeing Keiko: The journey of a killer whale from Free Willy to the wild
By Kenneth Brower
ISBN 1-
Freeing Keiko is the remarkable tale about what can be done when people really care about something. This is one of the best books I have ever read and one that has left a lasting impression on me.
Keiko was born in the wild and was caught off the coast of Iceland in 1979. He was shipped to Canada where he was trained before being sold to a marine park in Mexico. He lived here alone for years in woefully inadequate tank that was just a few meters deep (killer whales dive to 50m in the wild) and too warm. He then appeared in the film Free Willy, after which thousands of people wanted to free the real ‘Willy’ and the Free Willy Foundation was launched.
The book documents in detail the amazing effort and politics involved in the project from when the idea was first conceived to the lengthy and complicated process of sending him back to Iceland, rehabilitation, constructing a suitable enclosure in the sea, teaching him how to hunt and survive in the wild, watching him interact with a pod of wild whales, and all the politics, red tape, egos and heartbreak along the way.
Freeing the whale was controversial and both sides of the argument are carefully put forward. Some people thought that he would never adapt to living in the wild and many thought that the amount of money spent could have been better applied to marine mammal conservation.
Keiko did adapt to being in the wild and lived for more than four years in the sea before he sadly died in 2003. During his time in the sea he interacted with wild orcas and swam more than 1000 miles!
The book describes Keiko’s time spent in captivity and really highlights how important it is to study an animal before making opinions and suggestions about what they might need or how to enrich their lives. Uninformed decisions led to many erroneous assumptions about Keiko’s behaviour and health.
It is also a lesson in perseverance because so many barriers had to be broken at each and every stage of the story.
The process of rehabilitation and descriptions of his reaction to his new enclosure in the sea are incredibly moving and written in a way that makes it feel as if you are really there, standing on an observations platform waiting anxiously to see what will happen. It’s a very atmospheric book and the photo panels help to bring the story to life.
There are many websites about Keiko but you have to read the book to fully appreciate the story. This book is about the relationship between people and animals and will inspire you to work through things that seem to be insurmountable; to believe in yourself and to get things done whatever it takes.
Suzanne Rogers (www.learningaboutanimals.co.uk)
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Listening to whales: what the orcas have taught us
By Alexandra Morton
ISBN 0-
If I believed in parallel universes I would think that somewhere there is another version of me, living in a place a bit like British Columbia in Canada. I’d live by the sea, somewhere rugged and remote and study marine mammals. The version of me writing this review took a different path in life but this book is as near as I’ll get to that alternate life: and it does a pretty good job.
Alexandra Morton started her career at a marine park in California in the late 1970’s. She began studying communication between dolphins but then changed her attention to the killer whales at the park and pioneered the recording of orca sounds using a hydrophone. Becoming increasingly perturbed by the concept of captive marine mammals, in 1984 she moved to a remote community in British Columbia changing the emphasis of her research from captive to wild orca.
Alexandra recorded the whales during mating, childbirth, training and grief and became to recognise the various patterns and what they mean. Her recordings have led to a deeper understanding of whale communication by echolocation and of the effects that modern fishing techniques and other human activities are having on the whales today.
I enjoyed the way this book was written: it is scientific but also deeply moving.
She describes the tedious and meticulous job of recording and analysing the sounds
recorded on her hydrophone: I’m not certain that the other version of me would have
the patience for that. She describes how the whale researchers all interact to piece
together what they can about the behaviour of whales in a way that makes you feel
as if you have met them in person. She also documents the realities of life researching
wild whales: the unforgiving weather, the isolation, life on a float-
Obviously this book also contains a considerable amount of information about the
natural history of whales and their behaviour. For example, there are two types of
whales: residents and transients and each type has their own diet, language and social
system. This is very unusual in the animal world and usually only occurs when the
communities are separated geographically. However, these two types of orca live side
by side. You’d think that they would compete for resources (food etc.) but, fascinatingly,
the resident pods eat fish but the transients eat mammals. This is possibly the only
example of a ‘sympatric’ species (animals that live in the same area but don’t compete
for food or habitat). The behaviour of transients is different to the residents:
transients are quiet because their prey can otherwise hear them coming; they live
in smaller groups and can hold their breath quietly. The fish-
The book also contains photographs to really bring it to life. Books don’t have to be novels to be escapist and this book illustrates that concept perfectly.
Suzanne Rogers (www.learningaboutanimals.co.uk)
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Lonesome George: The life and loves of a conservation icon
By Henry Nicholls
ISBN 1-
Lonesome George is a giant tortoise. Not just any giant tortoise but possibly the last of his kind. He was discovered in 1971 on one of the Galapagos Islands, Pinta, where tortoises had been thought to be extinct.
Henry Nicholls’ account of George and the plight of giant tortoises in the Galapagos
is rich in detail but at the same time light-
The way that the author can put forward many different theories without disrupting the flow is impressive. As a reader you will gladly follow a diversion to a discussion about a different species or how specimens are catalogued in the Natural History Museum and as such this book is much more than just a story about a tortoise. It manages to weave many major concepts of biology into the tale without feeling like a textbook: from Darwin, to DNA analysis, to cloning.
George is not just a tortoise but also a conservation icon and this message is loud and clear throughout the book. He is an ambassador to remind us to think about what we are doing to the world, and does a very good job.
Suzanne Rogers (www.learningaboutanimals.co.uk)
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The Art and Science of Clicker Training for Horses, A positive approach to training equines and understanding them by Ben Hart. Amazon link
There are other people who are doing g
reat things with clicker training equines,
and some who understand the science behind why it works (and why it doesn't if not
done in the right way) but this is the first book to comprehensively put it all together.
Each chapter answers a common question about clicker training and is incredibly well
thought-
Ben Hart describes using the clicker as an intermediate
as well as terminal bridge. As he says, many horses work this out for themselves
and some owners naturally train this way but Hart, being the aforementioned sort
who needs to take things apart before putting them back together again, delves deeper
and considers why this might be the case and how we can use these signals more purposefully.
The author's enthusiasm for his subject leaps out from every page. The writing style
is accessible and rooted in his insatiable desire to share information that will
make the world a better place for equines.
I particularly liked the chapter entitled
`Can I use clicker training in conjunction with my other training methods?' -
Ben Hart considers
walking the talk vital in gaining credibility and getting the message out responsibly
but this book shows that he doesn't just walk the talk -
Suzanne Rogers, Learning About Animals
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Book review Animal Spy: Animal Welfare Behind Enemy Lines (Terry Spamer and Gordon Thorburn)
Terry Spamer worked undercover at the Special Operations Unit of the RSPCA investigating organised animal crime.
In this book he describes some of the cases he worked on; hilarious at times, deeply moving and upsetting at others, it is a must read for anyone interested in animal welfare.
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Last Chance to See
by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
I recently re-
Douglas Adams (author of the Hitch-