If you’re reading this essay, you very likely are familiar with the Sperm Whale. However did you know that there was once a Giant Sperm Whale (Lyviatan melvillei – honestly, could you even hope to ask for a better name for a giant whale?), now extinct, and for that matter a species of aquatic ground sloth and another of a walking sea cow? Indeed, if – like me – you take delight in the fascinating forms taken by now extinct land mammals, when it comes to sea mammals… well, as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Such imagination-piquing creatures as those I’ve just mentioned are included in Prof. Annalisa Berta‘s new book Sea Mammals; the Past and Present Lives of Our Oceans’ Cornerstone Species. Following the idea of “you don’t know where you are until you know from whence you came,” Prof. Berta includes such now extinct ancestors of today’s whales, dolphins, seals, and even sea otters and Polar Bears in order to provide her readers with a rich understanding of how, where, and at times even why these obligate air breathing creatures have come to spend their entire – or at least a significant part of their – lives in the planets seas.
For those who find themselves captivated by the majestic sight of a breaching whale, delighted at the sign of frolicking seals, or overcome with the “warm fuzzies” upon seeing a raft of sea otters holding one another’s paws whilst bobbing gently upon the ocean’s surface, this is an excellent book by which to take a deeper dive into the natural history of these remarkable creatures in order to gain a better understanding of both the lives they live today as well as how they evolved to do so. And not wanting to say too much too soon about another, still forthcoming book from Princeton University Press scheduled for publication in late November, reading Sea Mammals now will put you in a better informed intellectual place so as to more deeply appreciate that future book when it is published. “Just” – as the popular phrase has it – “sayin’.”
