Quotations from the great cetologists: what they have said about cetaceans

The words of those who pass it on

“If we listen to whales, perhaps we will learn to listen better to other humans.” Roger Payne. This database brings together 20+ notable quotations from the great cetologists and defenders of the oceans.

A young discipline, founding voices

Modern cetology took shape from the 1960s onwards through a few voices that shaped the way we look at these animals. As early as 1967, Roger Payne revealed to the world the song of the humpback whale, which gave rise to the Save the Whales movement. Sir David Attenborough (BBC) carried the image of cetaceans in series such as The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet.

Among field scientists, Hal Whitehead laid the foundations for the study of the sperm whale, Janet Mann those for the study of common bottlenose dolphin societies at Shark Bay, and Lori Marino led the mirror test experiments with Diana Reiss. In France, François Sarano (Longitude 181) and Vincent Ridoux (Pelagis) are major communicators to the general public.

Also worth exploring

The voices of cetology echo elsewhere: the encyclopaedia of researchers, the scientific bibliography, documentaries and human culture.