…pretty soon he was hundreds of miles from home and was singing loudly about everything he loved, and many other fish and mammals were listening to him…
from Soren’s Seventh Song
written by Dave Eggers
illustrated by Mark Hoffmann
Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2024
Humpback whales are making a comeback. Well, four of the 14 identified family units are still protected as endangered and one is threatened, but the other ten are indeed, repopulating themselves.
Putting Captain Ahab’s ocean treks in his pursuit of Moby Dick and other adventurous types aside, owners, captains, and crew of whaling ships in the late 1800s and early 1900s were interested in only one thing, the money to be made by hunting, capturing, and processing whales.
Then, whales were hunted relentlessly, almost to extinction. Before their populations were decimated, they provided oil for lamps and machines. Spermaceti, a highly prized oil found in the head of a sperm whale, was a great prize. New Bedford, Massachusetts, was such a busy port dealing mostly in lamp oil, that it was nicknamed “The City That Lit the World.”
Other whales provided vast amounts of blubber, which, when separated from its skin and cut into chunks, was rendered into its own lesser grade of whale oil. The oil was processed into soap, paint, varnish, rope, and textiles.
The bony plates in the upper jaw of some whales (including Humpbacks) strain food from the gallons of seawater whales suck in during feeding. Before plastic was invented, baleen harvested from hunted whales was made into stays in women’s corsets and hoops for their skirts. It was also made into umbrella ribs, riding crops, buggy whips, and hat brims.
As you might imagine, whaling was a dangerous occupation. Before all the rendering of blubber into oil and baleen into corsets took place, a whale must be caught. A harpoon (a long shaft with a barb at the end) was the primary weapon, but whales are heavy. Their weight and the fury with which they fought made them hard to catch and quick to escape.
That is, until Lewis Temple (c1800-1854), an African American abolitionist from New Bedford, Massachusetts, invented a pivoting iron head and attached that to the tip of a harpoon. Now, when the harpoon sunk into the flesh of the whale, the hinge at the tip pivoted, embedding the hook and ensuring the whale did not get away.
This simple invention revolutionized the whaling industry. Remaining in use until the 1950s, Temple’s toggle was so efficient that according to Dr. Wally Franklin of the Oceania Project, “between 1900 and 1978, over two million whales were killed.”
Humpbacks became a protected species in the early 1960s, and in 1986, the International Whaling Commission placed a moratorium on commercial whaling, ending the practice (except in Japan.) Citing the possible need for use as a food source, Japan withdrew from the IWC in 1986. Since then, limits have been placed on the amount of whales Japanese whalers can take.
Whaling is also limited to “subsistence whaling” for the Inupiat and Siberian Yupik people living on (and off) the coast of Northwestern Alaska and monitored since 1979. Most of the whales harvested for food are not Humpbacks, though.
Humpbacks live in every ocean in the world, but those 14 family groups cluster at the east and west coasts of South America, southern Africa, and Australia.
The water surrounding Australia is a dedicated whale sanctuary that has protected humpbacks, especially, since 1989. The water temperature is mild, the way they like it, and food is plentiful. According to Wally Franklin of the Oceania Project, 40,000 humpbacks live in Australian waters.
Dr. Franklin acknowledges that the severe depletion of sperm whales and near extinction of blue whales has provided little competition for humpbacks searching for food and mates. Which brings us to whalesong.
According to the IFLAscience newsletter, all whales vocalize, but only a few species actually sing, and the best and most famous singers are humpbacks. Males and females use calls. They include clicks, whistles, and pulses. They are used for navigation, coordinating hunting strategies, and maintaining social bonds within a pod.
But only males sing. Their songs are long, sometimes up to 20 minutes and include repeating phrases, rhythms, and structured patterns. Researchers think the primary reason for the song is to attract a mate. Maybe something like Elvis’s “Love Me Tender”?
So all the feeding, singing, and mating seems to be working, for now.
I’ve never seen a live whale. They are so huge that even if I saw one in an aquarium, even if I was very young, I think I would remember. So I’ve only seen them on a screen, from a physical and electronic distance. Not the best way, I agree, but that’s all I have.
Because of the recent (1/22/25) executive order to disallow the Endangered Species Act to be an obstacle to energy development (read “drill, baby, drill”), I may never will.
I’m reading The Secret Letters by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Quill Tree, 2022). Recommended by my youngest grandson, it’s a combination of historical fiction and mystery with a friendship story that works to show readers the difference between junk and clutter. When two friends unravel two separate mysteries, they discover that true friendships can stand the test of time.
Be curious! (and keep singing)
from Soren’s Seventh Song
written by Dave Eggers
illustrated by Mark Hoffmann
Cameron Kids/Abrams, 2024
Humpback whales are making a comeback. Well, four of the 14 identified family units are still protected as endangered and one is threatened, but the other ten are indeed, repopulating themselves.
Putting Captain Ahab’s ocean treks in his pursuit of Moby Dick and other adventurous types aside, owners, captains, and crew of whaling ships in the late 1800s and early 1900s were interested in only one thing, the money to be made by hunting, capturing, and processing whales.
Then, whales were hunted relentlessly, almost to extinction. Before their populations were decimated, they provided oil for lamps and machines. Spermaceti, a highly prized oil found in the head of a sperm whale, was a great prize. New Bedford, Massachusetts, was such a busy port dealing mostly in lamp oil, that it was nicknamed “The City That Lit the World.”
Other whales provided vast amounts of blubber, which, when separated from its skin and cut into chunks, was rendered into its own lesser grade of whale oil. The oil was processed into soap, paint, varnish, rope, and textiles.
The bony plates in the upper jaw of some whales (including Humpbacks) strain food from the gallons of seawater whales suck in during feeding. Before plastic was invented, baleen harvested from hunted whales was made into stays in women’s corsets and hoops for their skirts. It was also made into umbrella ribs, riding crops, buggy whips, and hat brims.
As you might imagine, whaling was a dangerous occupation. Before all the rendering of blubber into oil and baleen into corsets took place, a whale must be caught. A harpoon (a long shaft with a barb at the end) was the primary weapon, but whales are heavy. Their weight and the fury with which they fought made them hard to catch and quick to escape.
That is, until Lewis Temple (c1800-1854), an African American abolitionist from New Bedford, Massachusetts, invented a pivoting iron head and attached that to the tip of a harpoon. Now, when the harpoon sunk into the flesh of the whale, the hinge at the tip pivoted, embedding the hook and ensuring the whale did not get away.
This simple invention revolutionized the whaling industry. Remaining in use until the 1950s, Temple’s toggle was so efficient that according to Dr. Wally Franklin of the Oceania Project, “between 1900 and 1978, over two million whales were killed.”
Humpbacks became a protected species in the early 1960s, and in 1986, the International Whaling Commission placed a moratorium on commercial whaling, ending the practice (except in Japan.) Citing the possible need for use as a food source, Japan withdrew from the IWC in 1986. Since then, limits have been placed on the amount of whales Japanese whalers can take.
Whaling is also limited to “subsistence whaling” for the Inupiat and Siberian Yupik people living on (and off) the coast of Northwestern Alaska and monitored since 1979. Most of the whales harvested for food are not Humpbacks, though.
Humpbacks live in every ocean in the world, but those 14 family groups cluster at the east and west coasts of South America, southern Africa, and Australia.
The water surrounding Australia is a dedicated whale sanctuary that has protected humpbacks, especially, since 1989. The water temperature is mild, the way they like it, and food is plentiful. According to Wally Franklin of the Oceania Project, 40,000 humpbacks live in Australian waters.
Dr. Franklin acknowledges that the severe depletion of sperm whales and near extinction of blue whales has provided little competition for humpbacks searching for food and mates. Which brings us to whalesong.
According to the IFLAscience newsletter, all whales vocalize, but only a few species actually sing, and the best and most famous singers are humpbacks. Males and females use calls. They include clicks, whistles, and pulses. They are used for navigation, coordinating hunting strategies, and maintaining social bonds within a pod.
But only males sing. Their songs are long, sometimes up to 20 minutes and include repeating phrases, rhythms, and structured patterns. Researchers think the primary reason for the song is to attract a mate. Maybe something like Elvis’s “Love Me Tender”?
So all the feeding, singing, and mating seems to be working, for now.
I’ve never seen a live whale. They are so huge that even if I saw one in an aquarium, even if I was very young, I think I would remember. So I’ve only seen them on a screen, from a physical and electronic distance. Not the best way, I agree, but that’s all I have.
Because of the recent (1/22/25) executive order to disallow the Endangered Species Act to be an obstacle to energy development (read “drill, baby, drill”), I may never will.
I’m reading The Secret Letters by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Quill Tree, 2022). Recommended by my youngest grandson, it’s a combination of historical fiction and mystery with a friendship story that works to show readers the difference between junk and clutter. When two friends unravel two separate mysteries, they discover that true friendships can stand the test of time.
Be curious! (and keep singing)
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