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Whales

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science

How Young Killer Whales Became Hooligans

Yes, orcas have viral cultural trends, too.
Shoshi Parks September 29, 2022
temples

How Vietnam’s Ancient Whale Temples Are Helping Science

For centuries, hundreds of shrines have preserved crucial information about the marine mammals' diversity and distribution.
Anne Pinto-Rodrigues September 19, 2022
Rømø, Denmark

Whale Jawbone Fence

Danish whalers once brought back whale bones to use as building materials in places where wood was scarce.
outsider art

Podcast: The Blue Whale of Catoosa

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team August 4, 2022
Tokyo, Japan

The Whale Monument

This sculpture of whale emerging from the sidewalk commemorates the importance of baleen in a type of traditional Japanese puppetry.
science

A Whale of a Tale about a Science Breakthrough Ignored for Decades

In 1981, Helene Marsh and her mentor discovered the truth about a basic biological process—but it took many researchers years to accept it.
Madeline Bodin March 17, 2022
aquariums

The Tricky Business of Saving a Baby Beluga

For the first time, scientists were able to save a young whale stranded in Cook Inlet. What should happen next?
Sarah Durn February 7, 2022
South Burlington, Vermont

'Reverence' (Whales Tails)

A pair of black granite tails dive into a sea of grass in landlocked Vermont.
animals

Meet Outer Coast Killer Whales, Big Game Hunters of the Deep

Scientists say the animals have a distinct culture and vocal dialect, and specialize in taking down large prey.
Rochelle Baker November 8, 2021
science

Meet the Egyptian Scientists Studying 'Ghosts' of the Desert

The country's extensive fossils include early ancestors of whales, the largest mammals on the planet.
Jessica Leigh Hester September 21, 2021
deserts

Podcast: Valley of the Whales

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team July 7, 2021
animals

Podcast: Ubatuba Whale(s)

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team June 21, 2021
Pianoro, Italy

La Balena della Val di Zena

A great white whale sculpture now sits in the location where the remains of a prehistoric cetacean were found.
Florence, Oregon

Exploding Whale Memorial Park

Fifty years after a “blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds,” this idyllic natural area commemorates the carnage.
sailors

This Connecticut Inn Has Hosted Sea Chantey Singalongs for Half a Century

Landlubbers are very welcome.
Allison Hadley April 15, 2021
animals

The Beautiful, Brutal World of Whaleship Art

The logbooks kept by 19th-century Nantucket whalers offer a colorful peek into the gruesome industry.
Jessica Boyall January 25, 2021
science

Orca Post-Mortems Tell the Story of a Population Facing Numerous Threats

The apex predators mean a great deal both ecologically and culturally.
Luna Shyr January 25, 2021
Spijkenisse, Netherlands

'Saved by a Whale’s Tail'

This unique sculpture proved invaluable when it saved a train from careening off the tracks.