Whale odyssey - Michael Bright

Knucklehead – for that was the name the scientists gave him when he was born one February night close to the Hawaiian island of Maui – was boisterous, almost carefree. He may have weighed in at two tonnes and was nearly sixteen feet long at birth, but even this giant baby was in danger from the moment he was born. This is the story of the first year in his life – twelve months to learn the ways of whales . . . twelve months to learn how to survive in an underwater world ruled by cunning and ruthless predators. Shortly after he was delivered into a warm and enveloping subtropical sea, Knucklehead and his mother headed north to their feeding grounds in the icy Arctic. Michael Bright takes us on their perilous journey from Hawaii to Alaska and back, a round trip of many thousands of miles. Dramatically and compellingly he vividly describes the everyday encounters of Knucklehead, including a run-in with a gang of killer whales; a close-shave with one of the ocean’s most ferocious predators – the great white shark – and a tangle with a shoal of giant Humboldt squid. Though it reads like fiction, this is a brilliantly written, unputdownable story based on scientific fact and firsthand observation – Knucklehead being a composite of many whales and their extraordinary adventures. Michael Bright is a senior producer with the BBC’s world renowned Natural History Unit, based in Bristol. He is the author of over 75 books on wildlife, conservation and the environment and has been the recipient of many international film, television and radio awards, including the prestigious Prix Italia.