Word: cetacean
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...churning sea. Between the scenes of oceanic chaos come surprising and strange tableaus, as when the whale somehow transgresses the bounds of the earth and floats in outer space. You don't read "Leviathan" so much as give in to its visceral sensation. Harder depicts the angry cetacean as, among other things, a metaphor for our fears of nature. But, while quite fascinating to look at, I have to draw the line at the wildly steep cover price. There's simply no justifying $35 (25 euros!) for a cardstock cover and two tones of color...
...blubbering over the prospect of hungry cetacean connoisseurs waiting on shore with carving knives and barbecue grills and using CDs of Songs of the Humpback Whale for bait, you're not alone. Junko Sakurai of Greenpeace Japan doubts officials will make much of an effort to rescue beached whales if they know they can trade them in at the local supermarket. "We have pork, chicken, beef and fish. Why do we need whale?" says Sakurai, although as a member of Greenpeace, she may not be the best judge of the succulent taste of a nicely grilled finback-whale steak...
...world is starting to look a bit safer for whales. While the largest inhabitants of the cetacean nation mind their own business in the oceans' depths, their human supporters are hailing the International Whaling Commission's shift toward a solidly conservationist agenda. At a Berlin conference last week, the IWC - once a bastion of an industry now worth only about $50 million (compared to whale-related tourism's estimated $1.5 billion) - agreed for the first time to establish a conservation committee. Its task: to advise the IWC on potential threats to marine mammals from pollution, sonar gear, ships, global warming...
...extraordinary effort, but then again, this was no ordinary cetacean. The 22-ft.-long, 10,000-lb. orca with the droopy dorsal fin was none other than Keiko, the star of the 1993 hit movie Free Willy. In the film, Keiko plays a killer whale condemned to a life in cruel captivity until released to ocean freedom through the efforts of a small boy. The part came easily to Keiko, whose real life story paralleled Willy's, and the movie inadvertently made his plight known worldwide. Now, in an ambitious experiment, a dedicated team of scientists, animal behaviorists, trainers, divers...