Cetacean bibliography & media library

To go beyond the pages of this site, here is a selection of books, documentaries, podcasts and applications that we recommend for deepening your knowledge of cetaceans. The titles listed have been tested, read, listened to or used by the team, not simply compiled from Amazon.

Standard scientific books

For the demanding enthusiast

  • Würsig, Thewissen & Kovacs (2018), Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 3rd edn, Academic Press. The absolute standard work, ~1100 pages, ~300 articles. For university libraries and the cetology-obsessed.
  • Whitehead & Rendell (2015), The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, University of Chicago Press. The definitive synthesis on animal culture in cetaceans. Brilliantly written, accessible to non-specialists.
  • Whitehead (2003), Sperm Whales: Social Evolution in the Ocean, University of Chicago Press. Everything there is to know about the sperm whale. Still unmatched as a monograph.
  • Mann, Connor, Tyack & Whitehead (eds.) (2000), Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales, University of Chicago Press. The standard scientific collection on the social behaviour of cetaceans.
  • Thewissen (1998), The Emergence of Whales, Plenum Press. For understanding the evolution of cetaceans. The book by the man who discovered Pakicetus.
  • Ponganis (2015), Diving Physiology of Marine Mammals and Seabirds, Cambridge University Press. For those keen on diving physiology.

In French, for a wider readership

  • Hal Whitehead, Cachalots, Une vie sociale dans l’océan (French translation). Shorter than Sperm Whales, but an excellent introduction.
  • Roger Payne, Among Whales (in English), often available second hand. A poetic and scientific account by the biologist who discovered humpback whale song in 1967.
  • François Gohier, Baleines, dauphins et cétacés: a handsome photographic book for a general readership, with informative text.
  • Yves Paccalet, Souviens-toi des baleines: a French classic of public awareness about whaling.

Books for children and teenagers

  • “Les baleines et les dauphins” (Hachette Jeunesse, Mes premières découvertes series): for ages 4-7.
  • “La grande encyclopédie des dauphins et des baleines” (Larousse): for ages 8-12, carefully produced illustrations.
  • Mark Carwardine, Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises (Smithsonian, 2002): an illustrated identification guide, within reach of motivated teenagers.
  • Henrike Bratz & Mick Manning, Le grand voyage de la baleine: a poetic children’s picture book about migration.
  • For teenagers: Sauvez les baleines by Sylvia Earle (translated into French), an accessible manifesto by one of the foremost marine biologists.

Major documentaries

On captivity

Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013): The documentary that brought SeaWorld down. The story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale involved in three deaths. Essential viewing.

The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, 2009): On the dolphin killings at Taiji, Japan. Academy Award for Best Documentary, 2010. Shocking but essential.

On conservation and ecology

A Plastic Ocean (Craig Leeson, 2016): On plastic pollution. Particularly telling on the impact for filter-feeding cetaceans.

Mission Blue (Robert Nixon & Fisher Stevens, 2014): A portrait of Sylvia Earle, the legendary oceanographer. Available on Netflix.

Secrets of the Whales (James Cameron, 2021): A four-episode series for Disney+/National Geographic. Exceptional underwater footage, narrated by Sigourney Weaver.

The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (Joshua Zeman, 2021): On the 52 Hz whale.

French documentaries

Océans (Jacques Perrin & Jacques Cluzaud, 2009): A French production with a few memorable sequences on cetaceans.

Documentaries on sperm whales with François Sarano: the French oceanographer, a former diver aboard Cousteau’s Calypso and author of Le retour de Moby Dick (2017), appears in several documentaries devoted to the sperm whale community of Mauritius and of the Atlantic.

The Tara Océan series (Arte): Scientific expeditions at sea, with episodes devoted to marine mammals.

Podcasts

In French

  • “L’info des cétacés”: Our own podcast (on this site). More than 40 short episodes.
  • “Baleine sous Gravillon” (Marc Mortelmans, France Inter / podcast), an excellent natural history podcast that regularly devotes episodes to cetaceans.
  • “La Terre au carré” (France Inter), a regular programme on the marine environment, cetaceans included.

In English

  • “The Cetacean Podcast”: interviews with researchers in cetology.
  • “Ologies” with Alie Ward: episodes on cetology, marine bioacoustics and more.
  • “BBC Earth Podcast”: occasional episodes on whales, very well produced.
  • “Ocean Science Radio”: marine science news in brief.

Useful mobile applications

  • Happywhale (free, iOS / Android / Web), automatic photo-identification of the cetaceans you have seen. Upload your photo and the algorithm identifies the individual.
  • OBSenMER (free, iOS / Android), report your sightings at sea (cetaceans, birds, litter). The French reference.
  • Sea Mammal Sound Bank (University of St Andrews), a sound library of marine mammals, free of charge.
  • Mr.Goodfish (free), a buying guide to fish from sustainable fisheries. Indirectly reduces the pressure on cetaceans (bycatch).
  • iNaturalist (free, iOS / Android), a general citizen science application for biodiversity, cetaceans included.

Online resources (reference sites)

Going further

How to act in practice Current research Cetaceans and human culture Our video library Our sound library FAQ, 55 questions