Whales

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30448, 23 May 1964, Page 4

Whales

Whales. By Bernard Stonehouse. A. W. and A. H. Reed. 32 pp.

This colourful and durable little book will find its way to the library shelves of most primary schools. The type and vocabulary are suited to the nine to 12-year-old child but the full-colour illustrations found on every page should find an audience up to the middle secondary school. The text covers blood temperature, why a whale is classified as a mammal, the methods of swimming and breathing, how whales feed their young, dolphins and porpoises, the larger whales, intelligence, annual migrations, the function of the “blubber,” sleep, sight and hearing, sounds made, whale hunting by man and the uses which man makes of whale products.

There is a useful “quiz” of 20 questions at the end of the book, most of which are directly related to New Zealand conditions. A further section, “How I Can Find Out More About Whales,” will give food for thought to the brighter child, and there is aI brief bibliography for teachers and parents.

“Whales” is the first of a series under the title of “Kiwi Science Colourbooks” which will be edited by Dr. Bernard Stonehouse, reader in zoology, Canterbury University. Dr. Stonehouse is the author of “Whales.”