Page 74 - 2007 DT 12 Issues

Whales . . . the Sea’s people of the Sahara, and bottlenose There are 78 known species of
Enchanting Mammals dolphins were said to have done the whales divided into baleen whales
same for Australian aborigines during and toothed whales. They are found in
or thousands of years, whales the so-called Dreamtime; for the Haida all the world’s oceans. Dolphins and
have imprinted themselves people of the Queen Charlotte Islands porpoise are toothed whales. “Who”
Fupon the human psyche. To off Western Canada, it was the myth is “what” is confusing because large
early coastal tribes of northern Europe, of the ghost orca. The ancient Greeks, dolphins—such as orca (killer whales),
the Mediterranean and aboriginal Aus- beginning sometime around 500 BC, melon-headed whales, pilot whales
tralia, whales were as much spiritual celebrated the mystic relationship be- and false killer whales—are all part of
totems as objects of communal hunts. tween dolphins and men by depicting the dolphin family of whales, but are
Ancient rock art adorning the cliff them in art and on coins, including the called “whales” rather than dolphins
faces and boulders in the countryside famous “boy on a dolphin” coin. because of their large size. Porpoise
near the White Sea in northern Russia Cetacean (whales, dolphins and are the smallest dolphins.
depicts not only whale hunting, but porpoise) origin is still controver- Most whales on average are
shamanistic figures interacting with sial, however, the introduction of thought to live between 40 and 60
whales ritualistically, even riding molecular biology as a tool in deter- years. Jeffery Bada of the Scripps In-
them into the afterlife. In a unique mining relationships among fossils stitution of Oceanography in La Jolla,
carving which dates to around 3000 hints that whales may be “cousins” Calif., believes that bowhead whales
BC, the life of one man culminates in of hippos rather than their “sisters.” are the oldest mammals on earth.
his merging with a whale in a union Both cetaceans and hippopotamids Bada used 48 frozen eyeballs
of supernatural power. are included in an order of mammals culled from whale hunts to determine
It is thought that these the ages of the whales from which the
northern European eyeballs came. Most animals were be-
petroglyphs may be tween 20 and 60 years old when they
the oldest extant de- died, but five males were much older.
piction of what has Their ages were 91, 135, 159, 172
long since become the and—the oldest—211 years old. The
universal motif of inter- dating method used has an accuracy of
action between humans only 84%, therefore the 211-year-old
and cetaceans. whale’s age range could have been
Throughout many from 177 to 245!
cultures, stories and Some whale species travel in fam-
myths abound in which ily ‘pods’ that may also include close
men are saved, tutored, Orcas jumping in the eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska associates, but some males are loners.
ferried or sustained by Whales habitually communicate with
other whales of their species over very
whales and dolphins called even-toed ungulates, or artio- long distances through their repetitive
(dolphins are small whales). Even to- dactyls, under which the majority of “songs.” Exactly who sings when or
day, dolphins have been known to save domesticated mammal species fall. why is unknown.
people from drowning, even escorting However, many new fossil discover- There is accumulating evidence
them to shore. This theme is seen in ies over the last dozen years place of cultural transmission in whales
both Sumerian and Egyptian myth. In- cetaceans in a clade known as Cetartio- and dolphins from one generation
teraction with dolphins was central to dactyla (cetaceans plus artiodactyls). to the next. A mother killer whale
the Minoan religion of ancient Crete. In any case, “whales” in some form was observed repeatedly training her
The whale-like Nomo spirits brought have been around for about 40 to 50 5-to-6-yr-old calf to hunt seal pups,
culture and knowledge to the Dogon million years. coaching her offspring in technique

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