American Cetacean Society- Speaker Series

Online, San Diego CA

08 September, 2021

Description

"Dawn of Cetology: The Scientific Pursuit of Whales, from the Antiquities to the Twentieth Century". Please join the American Cetacean Society on Wednesday, Sept 8th, as they host their monthly speaker series event. The September speaker will be Uko Gorter! About the Speaker: Born in Arnhem, Holland, Uko Gorter ended a seventeen-year career as a professional ballet dancer in 1997. Following in his father's footsteps, he subsequently pursued his lifelong dream of becoming an illustrator. Uko enrolled in the School of Visual Concepts and the School of Realist Art, both in Seattle, WA. His interest in nature led him to become a natural history illustrator. Specializing in marine mammal illustration, Uko Gorter has traveled extensively to observe whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals in their natural environment. Uko’s work has appeared in scientific journals, museums, interpretive signs, and many books. The culmination of this work was illustrating all marine mammal species for the second edition of “Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification”, authored by Thomas Jefferson, Marc Webber, and Robert Pitman (Elsevier Press, 2015). More recently his work was featured in the Anatomy of Dolphins; Insights into Body Structure and Function (Cozzi et al., 2017), and the Encyclopedia of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises (Erich Hoyt. 2017). Uko joined the American Cetacean Society in 2002, and is the current president of the American Cetacean Society. Uko lives with his wife in Kirkland, Washington. About the Presentation: "Dawn of Cetology: The Scientific Pursuit of Whales, from the Antiquities to the Twentieth Century". In 1787, the famous Scottish surgeon and anatomist, John Hunter, lamented that it was "...our unfitness to pursue our researches in the unfathomable waters" regarding our scientific inquiry of whales. From the ancient classical times through the early twentieth century, this challenge continued to plague naturalists and zoologists. How did we get to know the whales? The history of the science of whales, or cetology, is immensely fascinating and richly layered. While it is impossible to fully detail this story in a single presentation, I will attempt to give a succinct overview and highlight some of the most important protagonists who shaped this unique branch of zoology. A field made up of philosophers, compilers, naturalists, ship-surgeons, systemizers, museum-curators, anatomists, acousticians, molecular biologists, ethologists, and many more. A science dominated by men until the twentieth century, when women made their entry after World War II. I hope you will come away with a fuller appreciation of the history of cetology. This event is FREE and Open to the Public! September 8th at 7pm PST Zoom Info: Meeting ID: 513 147 5168 Passcode: Whales