Savior of the Whales
Photo taken in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Photo by Joe McKenna Big Spy Hop
- Francisco Mayoral, "Savior of the Whales"This October 31, 2013 NY times article tells the sorty of Francisco Mayoral, a fisherman from San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California. Mayoral has had a long association with gray whales. Since the early 1990s he has been enlisting support to maintain the breeding grounds along the Baja Coast, saving it from the encroachment of commercial interests.
Natural History
The Whales Know by Call Number: F1246 .C15313 2013ISBN: 9781907973888Publication Date: 2014Italian novelist and screenwriter Cacucci takes a break from writing fiction to record his experience traveling through the 2,000 kilometer peninsula of Baja California. In this travelogue he describes the region' geographically diverse landscape, its flora, fauna, and fellow travelers both historical and contemporary. But what impresses Cacucci the most are his experiences with the whales, their intelligence, approachability, and playfulness.
A New Island Biogeography of the Sea of Cortés by Call Number: QH107 .I85 2002ISBN: 9780195133462Publication Date: 2002This scientific study expands and revises an earlier 1983 edition. The editors bring together essays, which study the impact of population, tourism, and climate, commercial fisheries, and conservation efforts on the geography and biodiversity of the Sea of Cortez region. Individual essays treat plant life, specific insects, mammals, birds, and reptiles, the human “scene,” and the history of exploration in the Sea of Cortez also known as the Gulf of California.
Baja California & the Sea of Cortez: Among the Great Whales
the Pacific coast of Mexico's Baja California
Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, of the NASA Johnson Space Center.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-30/html/iss030e254259.html
Bibliographer
Selected and Annotated By:
For more information about this and other excursions, visit the Penn Alumni Travel Webpage.
Travels in Baja California
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Lower California Guide Book: |
This travel guide from 1956 provides an interesting perspective on the ways the region has changed over the past half century. It includes some photos, maps, and detailed descriptions for camputers, hunters, and fishers. Photo is Cape of San Lucas. Taken from the book facsimile in Hathi Trust.
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Clemente Guillén, Explorer of the South : Diaries of the Overland Expeditions to Bahía Magdalena and La Paz, 1719, 1720-1721 In this 18th century diary, Guillén documents his travels through Baja California. It is part of the 50 volume “Baja California Travel Series” available from used and rare book shops such as AABA Books http://www.abaa.org. See a description of the series here: http://www.abaa.org/book/657557564. |
Photo: The marker erected in honor of the Upper-Lower California partition.
Released into the public domain by its author, EjidoMike
Steinbeck and Those Who Follow in His Footsteps
Vermilion Sea by ISBN: 0395576490Publication Date: 1992John Janovy, answering Baja, California's siren call, follows John Steinbeck’s footsteps into the peninsula, while also hoping to experience Whales first hand.Janovy provides the reader with an interesting mix of the romantic and the scientific.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez by ISBN: 9780140187441Publication Date: 1995 (Originally published by Viking, 1951)This is Steinbeck’s report of his 1940 expedition to the Baja California peninsula to document and collect marine specimens with marine biologist Ed Ricketts. He published this nonfiction work following the publication of the original report. All in all Steinbeck and Ricketts documented 500 species, including several new species of anemones later named for Ricketts and Steinbeck. Available from second hand book sellers such as ABEbooks http://www.abebooks.com. The 1995 edition is in print and available from most booksellers.
History
The Prehistory of Baja California by Call Number: F1219.1.B3 P74 2006ISBN: 9780813029658Publication Date: 2006This work focuses more on the human history of Baja California, through archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic studies of the area.
Natural History
Marine Mammals of the Pacific Coast by ISBN: 9780520265455Publication Date: 2011This reference book serves as an interpretive field guide to 45 species of whales, dolphins, seals, and otters that live, feed, and pass along the Pacific Coast on migration from Baja California to British Columbia. Expect to find detailed species accounts as well as more general information on identification, natural history, distribution, and conservation.
Telling Our Way to the Sea by ISBN: 9780374272845Publication Date: 2013Aaron Hirsh takes 12 students to the Sea of Cortez for an interdisciplinary study of the region, incorporating ecological and evolutionary science, geography, zoology, botany, history, and sociology into their research. The study group develops an appreciation for the beauty and richness of the region as well as an awareness of its fragility in the wake of commercial fishing and tourism, and other environmental pressures.
Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by ISBN: 9781844077632Publication Date: 2011Everything you need to know about protected areas for marine mammals from the Ross Sea to the Sea of Cortez.
