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| To Touch a Wild Dolphin | 
| Author: Rachel Smolker
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $17.95
You Save: $8.05 (31%)
New (1) from $17.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 2222276
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
ASIN: B0002D6DHY
Publication Date: March 20, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: brand new, no publisher marks
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Product Description
To Touch a Wild Dolphin is the first intimate account of dolphin life in the wild. In 1982 Rachel Smolker traveled to Monkey Mia, a remote beach on the west coast of Australia where wild dolphins regularly interact with humans. Over the next fifteen years, Smolker and a team of fellow scientists were able to explore the lives of dolphins as they had never been explored before: up close, in their natural environment, with a definite recognition of individual dolphin identities.
Smolker came to know the relationships, histories, and "personalities" of the dolphins. In To Touch a Wild Dolphin she offers delightful portraits of dolphins she became close to, ranging from the playful and incredibly silly to the slightly crazy, moody, and unpredictable. This develops into an examination of dolphin society and the diversity of characters that inhabit it. And ultimately from the intriguing, sometimes violent differences between the sexes to the nature of mother-infant relationships, to the wide repertoire of sounds used for social communication Smolker is able to reveal the inner workings of dolphin life with unprecedented clarity.
Smolker was initially attracted to dolphins for the reasons that attract so many people to them: an elusive sense of their intelligence and their social and emotional complexity, a sense that despite the fact that we live in such entirely different worlds, dolphins are somehow like us. Now, after years of fascinating, inspiring, sometimes troubling, and occasionally heartbreaking experiences with the dolphins of Monkey Mia, Smolker is able to unravel many of the mysteries surrounding these beloved animals.
To Touch a Wild Dolphin is a personal book in many ways, at the level of the dolphins and also at the level of the scientist. It is an important book, one that greatly enhances our understanding of dolphins and of ourselves, and as such it will take its place alongside such classics as Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf and Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of Man.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Not what I expected August 23, 2008
I bought this book to help me learn to catch dolphin with a fishing pole....and it didn't even cover the right baits and lures to use! Other than that it's a great book.
A fascinating book! August 14, 2007
I loved this book. I have always been interested in dolphins and was intrigued to learn how they live. Their connection with humans seems so close, like they are as interested in learning about us as we are about them. This woman's story of her time with the dolphins made me wish I was there too. I read the book a couple of years ago and still think about it. Some of her stories still make me laugh when I think of them. A fascinating story!
 From a dolphin lover in the highest degree March 10, 2006
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm passionate about dolphins, and I couldn't get through the book. I felt as if the author didn't like dolphins, and didn't really respect them. I hate to be saying this about a book that seemed at first glance so wonderful, but I didn't feel as if the book protrayed positive feelings. I just feel as if the author doesn't like dolphins, and I think that a book that is written in a way that might seem emotional, but doesn't portray true feelings or a love for the creatures that are said to be loved. If the tone is to be set in one way, the words used should reflect that tone.
 This book September 19, 2004
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm reading this book with my Mom and it's pretty good. It's very interesting how the author got to study the dolphins.
to see dolphins in action November 11, 2003
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
Also check out - Captain Jon Explores the Ocean (also on amazon).
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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