Self-described as half-teacher, half-naturalist, Dr. Kenneth S. Norris is one of the world’s foremost authorities on whales and dolphins, those most appealing creatures with whom we share the planet. Focusing on the spinner dolphins off Hawaii, Norris carries us through his earliest contacts with these graceful animals (including work with Gregory Bateson), his attempts with teams of students to learn about their complex lives in the sea, and finally to the tragic dolphin kill in the yellowfin tuna industry. Dr. Norris tells us how the dolphins swim, find food, breathe in rough weather, and how they protect themselves in an underwater world totally without places to hide. Norris shows us how his scientific ideas evolve, takes us on a hair-raising trip aboard a tuna vessel where he and his colleagues dive in the net to search for solutions to the kill, and finally suggests how the “magic envelope,” the dolphins’ group protection system, might be the key to releasing them unharmed.

Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin

NORRIS, Kenneth S.

Avon/Books

One of the world's foremost authorities on whales and dolphins provides anecdotes about his life-long contact with spinner dolphins off Hawaii, describing how they swim, dive, socialize, and protect themselves

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

The marine zoologist records his research experiments on the habits and physiological traits of whales and porpoises

The Porpoise Watcher

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Pets & Animal Care

W.W.Norton&Company

The marine zoologist records his research experiments on the habits and physiological traits of whales and porpoises

THE PORPOISE WATCHER

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Twenty years in the making by a distinguished dolphin expert and his associates, The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin is the first comprehensive scientific natural history of a dolphin species ever written. From their research camp at Kealakeakua Bay in Hawaii, these scientists followed a population of wild spinner dolphins by radiotracking their movements and, with the use of a windowed underwater vessel, observing the details of their underwater social life. The authors begin with a description of the spinner dolphin species, its morphology and systematics, and then examine the ocean environment, the organization of dolphin populations, and the way this school-based society of mammals uses shorelines for rest and instruction of the young. The dolphins' reproductive cycle, their vision, vocalization, hearing, breathing, and feeding, and the integration of the school are carefully analyzed. The authors conclude with a comprehensive evolutionary analysis of this marine cultural system, with its behavioral flexibility and high levels of cooperation. This absorbing book is the richest source available of new scientific insights about the lives of wild dophins and how their societies evolved at sea.

The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin

Wells, Randall S.

Wursig, Bernd

Wursig, Melany

University of California Press

Wild dolphins are an elusive subject for behavioral studies: How can you "do a Jane Goodall" on animals usually visible only as a glimpse of rolling dorsal fins heading for the horizon? In this unusual book, two of the best-known scientists in the marine-mammal field have assembled an astonishing variety of discoveries about dolphins. The contributions range from a graduate student's first paper to senior scientists summarizing a lifetime of research. The dolphins they have studied range from tiny spinners to majestic pilot whales, from killer whales to the familiar bottle-nosed dolphin. The research tactics vary just as widely: the researchers have followed dolphins in boats, tracked them from shore, dived among hundreds of them (plus a few sharks) in tuna fishing nets. They have used computers and airplanes, genetic analysis and artificial language, and learned to read the life history of a dolphin from the cross-section of a single tooth. Pryor and Norris are successful writers as well as scientists; the book is peppered with entertaining essays, by one or both editors, on the intriguing history of dolphin research. Dolphin Societies not only surveys the most interesting recent research on dolphin behavior but also gives lay readers a fascinating look at the scientific mind at work.

Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles

Pryor, Karen

Scientist, teacher, author, and champion of the natural world, Dr. Kenneth S. Norris reveals the insights gained over a lifetime devoted to learning and teaching about the natural world and human nature, and the global environmental crisis we've helped to bring upon ourselves.

Mountain Time / Reflections on the Wild World and Our Place in It

lulu.com

The porpoise watcher

John Murray

Kenneth Norris was a natural historian in the tradition of Aldo Leopold. He was the father of American marine mammology and discovered much of what we now know about the social life of dolphins and whales. He founded the University of California's Natural Reserve system and taught his students to practice science with rigor and passion.This volume includes an oral history with Ken Norris as well as eight of his colleagues who share recollections of Norris's research interests in desert biology, herpetology, and marine mammology, his scientific legacy and teaching philosophy. Norris helped to craft the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and was the author of over a hundred scientific papers and several books on dolphins and porpoises.

Kenneth S. Norris, Naturalist, Cetologist & Conservationist, 1924-1998: An Oral History Biography

Nature & Ecology

The Regional History Project, University

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by NORRIS, Kenneth S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by NORRIS, Kenneth S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by NORRIS, Kenneth S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin

Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin

The Porpoise Watcher

Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin

THE PORPOISE WATCHER

The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin

Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles

Mountain Time / Reflections on the Wild World and Our Place in It

The porpoise watcher

Kenneth S. Norris, Naturalist, Cetologist & Conservationist, 1924-1998: An Oral History Biography