Whales have the largest brains on earth, brains every bit as complex as our own. They have culture, and they have language. They sing songs that obey the kinds of rules one finds in classical music. What does a creature with the largest brain on earth use it for? Why does it sing? What do the songs mean? Almost everything about whales is a tantalizing mystery. We ache to know about other forms of equally intelligent life in the universe, and yet here are creatures as unknown as extraterrestrials right among us, moving in a slow-motion ballet under the oceans, hidden from our view.
— Diane Ackerman, “The Moon By Whale Light” in the eponymous collection (via
snagamat)