Whales (Mondo Animals) - Softcover

Grade 3-5. An easy-to-follow overview. Using a generalist approach, the authors explain why whales are not fish and describe physical features common to all whales. Such behaviors as swimming, breathing, feeding, communication, and reproduction are described in two-page spreads. Illustrations on every page are colorful and engaging, from the "in-your-face" close-up photograph of two bottlenose dolphins to the overhead photograph of a blue whale with its throat pleats extended and full. The text is amplified by drawings that indicate the differences between many of the 75 species of whales; diagrams that identify their body parts and physiology; and a map that shows the migration patterns of the fin, humpback, and grey whales. Sometimes the lack of specificity is frustrating, e.g., the statement "the teeth of some species of toothed whale never break through the gums" never states which species. Although the diagram of echolocation is clear, the explanation is so brief that the dolphins' use of sound waves as a weapon is not included. The history of whale hunting is described in two paragraphs, and although world-wide efforts at protection are mentioned, the present dangers to whales are not.?Frances E. Millhouser, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.