BE AU TI F U L
BRYANT AUSTIN Foreword by
SYLVIA A. EARLE
WHALE Abrams, New York
This is Scar’s younger cousin Enigma. He was estimated to be two years of age when this photograph was composed. This was also the first to-scale portrait made with 2
the 50 mega pixel Hasselblad system.
CONTENTS Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Epilogue
S Y LV I A A . E A R L E CORDUROY
HUMPBACK WHALES, THE KINGDOM OF TONGA SPERM WHALES, DOMINICA, WEST INDIES M I N K E W H A L E S , G R E A T B A R R I E R R E E F, A U S T R A L I A WHAT’S AT STAKE
Humpback Whale Calf II. This Beethoven the whale who surprised me with a gentle embrace. I discourage playful behavior from young whales simply by returning to the vessel. Despite their benevolence there’s always the risk of injury brought about from playful behavior.
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Minke Whale Portrait 1294 (Detail). In this photo Ella is swimming underneath my body less than four feet away from the camera. My body created a shadow cast on her and had to wait until her eye was once again illuminated by the sun before I composed this photograph.
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Epilogue
WHAT’S AT STAKE
H
umans and whales have shared the same planet
mortally wounded by container ships in the span of less than two
for approximately 200,000 years. Yet despite
years [give dates], making the US the global leader in blue whale
our lengthy and at times tenuous cohabitation,
mortality.
fewer than one millionth of one percent of the
Humans also significantly impact the health and safety of
human population will ever experience contact
cetaceans, and the healthy marine habitats on which they depend,
with whales in an intimate and transformative way—in their wild
through marine debris, particularly single-use plastic goods.
habitats, on their terms. Our estrangement from nature will lead to
Shopping bags, bottles, coffee-cup tops, and more are used once
the demise of many whale species—out of sight, out of mind, as the
and then discarded—many end up in the ocean, where it takes up to
saying goes.
400 years for them to break down into tiny pieces that concentrate
Each year, more than 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises
existing toxins in the ocean. They become small enough to be
(collectively known as “cetaceans”) are conservatively estimated
consumed by fish, and enter the food chain leading to whales and
to die as a consequence of our fishing and shipping. Most become
to us. Even through the food we eat, our fate is inextricably tied to
entangled in fishing gear. More than 50,000 container ships
that of whales.
traverse our oceans, bringing cheap goods and fuel from overseas
Even turning on a light switch that receives its electricity from
and returning with our scrap and waste for other countries to
a coal-fired power plant sends mercury into the atmosphere that
process. Still another 20,000 cruise ships and military vessels
eventually ends up in the ocean and in the fish we and whales eat.
further add to our ocean footprint. Whale-vessel collisions are
Some species are so heavily loaded with mercury that if they wash
poorly monitored; typically, we’re only made aware of these events
up dead on the beach, they would need to be treated as toxic
when whales wash ashore, dead from blunt-force trauma or even
waste. The same greenhouse gases that warm our planet also lower
decapitated, or when they are draped across the bulbous bow of a
the pH of the ocean, making it more acidic. This increase in acidity
ship as it comes into port. Although quite loud on the surface, these
impacts some of the smallest creatures in the oceans that are
massive ships are surprisingly quiet underwater when approaching
responsible for producing most of the oxygen on our planet, and
OVERLEAF:
which form the base of the marine food web.
mother who liked to rest in a vertical
head-on. In my home state of California, six blue whales were
This is a humpback whale
position with her fluke out of the water. Her calf would swim around her and would nurse when she went horizontal 12
to breathe.
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