The Killer Whale Who Changed the World Quotes

“The word “whale” was almost always synonymous with monster and interchangeable with giant.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“Regardless of how scientists may feel about respecting the history of the name, there’s no world in which “killer” sounds like a safe species to swim with. If you’re on their menu, the name is accurate, but if you’re not—and we’re clearly not—it’s an archaic holdover from an ancient era that makes it harder to save this vital species.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“The southern residents are the most photographed, filmed, recorded, and documented mammals on the planet who aren’t either running a country or headlining Hollywood blockbusters.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“In 1964, no one was watching whales for fun. Today, every orca in the Salish Sea is a star.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“Every bar that’s set to prove human superiority to orcas seems to be as easy for the whales to jump as the hurdles set out for them at SeaWorld. Orcas fit every definition for humanity humans have come up with that doesn’t require opposable thumbs.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“Human groups who find themselves hunting in the same territory are almost expected to fight. For the most part, regardless of the continent they’re on or their culture, it’s rare when they don’t battle over land or resources. But the orca culture is more ancient than ours and, apparently, more civilized. Killer whales don’t just share food; they share the same sectors of the seas without challenging each other to determine dominance. This is true for orca families found in every ocean in the world.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“For a long time, humans have wondered about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets while ignoring the intelligent life on this one. Orcas have a language and a culture that predates ours, so how do we justify imprisoning them or, more importantly, destroying their habitat?”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“People had considered this the most fearsome creature on the planet. The most vicious. The most predatory. Without any rivals. It could beat anything in the ocean, so, therefore, it qualified as the most feared of all beasts. Totally wrong. So I guess Moby Doll changed the world’s attitudes towards killer whales. Instead of seeing a killer—a savage monster like Moby Dick—the world met a cuddly companion, Moby Doll.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“We now know that killer whales are one of the very few mammalian species that can learn new sounds and reproduce them. Dogs and cats, for example—there’s not a chance you could teach a dog to meow or a cat to bark. It’s a very rare ability to learn sounds and reproduce them. We can do it, as humans. Some primates can. Some of the whales can. The calls Moby Doll made in 1964—we still hear today from his kin group that still exists out there. If all roads lead to Rome, all oceans lead to Moby Doll.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“In an age when whales were judged by how easy it was to render them into oil, or grind them into pet food and fertilizer, killer whales were a problem even if they weren’t killing humans.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World

“The orca’s big brain was bigger than he had hoped—five times the size of a human’s and weighing in at nearly fifteen pounds. And this was from a young whale, not a mature adult. The brain was also more complicated than McGeer had imagined—more complicated than a human brain. Dolphin brains were impressive, but this brain was spectacular.”
― Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World