A wonderful article in the July 12th issue of The New York Times Magazine, witten by Chalres Siebert, with illustrations by Ivan Chermayeff.
illustration by Ivan Chemayeff
“In a Baja lagoon, something unusual is going on between gray whales and the humans who study them. Is it interspecies communication?”
“Human-whale relations have long been defined by this stark dualism: manic swings between mythologizing and massacre; between sublime awe and assiduous annihiliation, the testimonies of their slayers often permeated with a deep sense of both remorse and respect for the victims.”
Read the whole article at nytimes.com
More on this article from NPR’s Fresh Air, with Terry Gross. Listen to her interview with author Charles Siebert and wildlife biologist Dr. ToniFrohoff.
This past February, I had the amazing experience of touching a baby Pacific Gray Whale in Bahía Magdalena. It was incredible that after the initial encounter of 20 minutes the mother and the calf followed our tiny panga for a while. It sure made us appreciate a certain bonding aspect of this specific human-whale interaction. I posted the story and the video of this interaction –
http://talkingtraveler.blogspot.com/2009/02/handling-whale-calf-in-baja.html
The picture of the whale with the hand reaching for it done by Ivan Chermayeff – does anyone know how to get a copy of that picture?
This article touched me so deeply – it’s on my mind daily.
Have you tried contacting NYT or Ivan Chermayeff?