Whale researcher dives into the world of orcas

Alexandra Morton was a renegade science student when she dropped out of college and began studying dolphins and orca whales. She worked with dolphin expert John Lilly, studied orcas at the marine park Marineland south of Los Angeles, and made her home in orca country on an isolated central British Columbia coast.

Morton's "Listening to Whales" is the story of her 25 years studying cetaceans. Morton arrived on the whale-watching scene in the 1970s, as scientists began using fins to identify orcas. She identified dolphin calls and orca calls, learning that while dolphins speak over each other's calls, orcas speak one at a time. Morton learned the importance of hard science in gaining credibility for her observations. When observing behavior that indicated whale intelligence, she learned to shoot picture after picture. When captive orcas Corky and Orky engaged in greeting the sun each morning from their tank by first pinpointing, with blowhole spray and licks, the exact spot where the sun struck the walls, Morton patiently shot frame after frame.

She watched Corky lose calf after calf. In orca circles, the new mothers are initiated into nursing by the older ones, and Corky was taken from her family before becoming a mother. Morton also watched Corky mourn for her calves, moaning for three days until her voice gave out.

Morton left Marineland for British Columbia, locating Corky's original pod. In "Listening to Whales," the drama swings from the young scientist's life on the isolated seacoast in and around Johnstone Strait, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, to her return to California to record Corky's deliveries. Morton graduated with honors, met an orca filmmaker, Robin Morton, married him and continued her studies.

"Listening to Whales" details the devastating effects of captivity on orcas, but does so subtly. Morton walks the reader through her documentation of the effects of captivity on whales, detailing the limited world of the Shamus who entertained in theme parks. Most children, she says, remain unimpressed by the whales, either ignoring them or outright pestering them. In the end, she does not see the reason for captivity at all.

It is in the wild that the book becomes more lyrical. Orcas visit the researchers and bring them through fog when they become lost. The orca brain is the second largest on Earth. Morton pinpoints the source of dolphin and orca sonar abilities (much of it is located in the jaw), and traces the habits both of pod orcas and transient orcas.

As the young researcher gained more and more acceptance among the scientific community, she became an activist. She includes the death of her husband, whose air supply gave out as he dove to film a local orca matriarch. Alexandra Morton has heard many stories of orcas rescuing humans, but the matriarch Eve does not help Morton's husband.

Morton distances herself from the whales, but only for a time, raising her young son in a dilapidated log house in Echo Bay and working as a deck hand.

The last quarter of the book documents the enormous effect of salmon hatcheries on the whales' neighborhood. The combination of acoustic harassment devices, designed to keep whales away from the hatchery salmon, and chemicals such as those found in Flexgard, which prevents the growth of mussels and barnacles on nets, drove the whales away for a time in 1993.

The book ends on a hopeful note, with Morton and Jane Goodall speaking of the future.

Twenty years ago, humans shot at orcas; today, they're an object of affection and fascination. "Listening to Whales" is a fascinating journey into the heart of a research scientist.