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.