The Pacific Ocean off the west coast of North America - ranging from the south coast of Alaska to the Equator - encompasses many marine environments, from warm tropics to cold temperate waters, and from the shallow continental shelf to deep ocean canyons. A diverse number of marine mammals have adapted characteristics to survive and prosper in each of these environments. Beaked and sperm whales spend their time in the deep ocean. Most dolphin species favour warmer waters, while a few prefer cooler climes. Porpoises avoid the tropics altogether. Harbour seals stay near the temperate coast, as do sea otters.

Marine Mammals of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest depicts all fifty species of living marine mammals known to inhabit these waters, including the smallest (the sea otter, from the order Carnivora) and the largest (the blue whale, from the Mysticeti suborder of Cetacea). Here, featured in beautiful, full colour illustrations and photos, are all the whales you are likely to see in BC and the Pacific Northwest - from humpbacks, greysand orcas, to bottlenose dolphins and Dall's porpoises - as well as sea lions and five species of seals. This three-fold handy pocket guide also includes a habitat key, identification tips, marine mammal-watching guidelines and an illustrated glossary of common visible behaviours of marine mammals in the wild.

Pieter Folkens is one of the finest marine mammal illustrators in the world. He is the only one to have illustrated all extant species of marine mammals as well as many prehistoric species. He was the first natural science illustration lecturer in the Science Communication Program University of California and is presently a popular lecturer for Princess Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, Dolphin Charters, Marine Science Institute, and the Seymour Marine Science Center.

A charter member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Folkens is also a founding director of the Alaska Whale Foundation and a life member of The Marine Mammal Center and lead trainer and captain of their water rescue/whale disentanglement team. His company - A Higher Porpoise Design Group - is so named to draw attention to one of the most endangered marine mammals, the Vaquita (Gulf of California porpoise). The author and illustrator of numerous publications, including the forthcoming The National Audubon Guide to Marine Mammals of the World (Knopf/Random House, 2002), Folkens also constructs life-sized sculptures of marine mammals including a bowhead for the Inupiat Heritage Center, Barrow, Alaska; and the cinematic cetaceans for the films Star Trek IV, White Squall, Flipper, Zeus and Roxanne, seaquest DSV, and all of the killer whales for the Free Willy series.

Pieter Folkens' profile page