Journey Of The Pink Dolphins

By the acclaimed author of The Soul of an Octopus and the bestselling memoir The Good Good Pig. When Sy Montgomery ventured into the Amazon to unlock the mysteries of the littleknown pink dolphins, she found ancient whales that plied the Amazon River at dawn and dusk, swam through treetops in flooded forests, and performed underwater ballets with their flexible bodies. But she soon found out that to know the botos, as the dolphins are locally called, you must also know the people who live among them. And so in Journey of the Pink Dolphins, Montgomery—part naturalist, part poet, part Indiana Jones—winds her way through watery tributaries and riverside villages, searching for botos and hearing the tales of locals who believe these ethereal dolphins are shape-shifters—creatures that emerge from the water as splendidly dressed men or women only to enchant their human onlookers, capture their souls, and then carry them away to the Encante, an underwater world. Montgomery takes readers on four separate journeys, exploring the river-dwelling dolphins’ natural history, chronicling their conservation pressures, unraveling their prehistoric roots, and visiting with shamans who delve into the Encante.

"Montgomery...recounts her adventures and observations with the lyricism and penetrating insights of a poet as well as the logic and factual accuracy of a scientist. Montgomery travels to the Amazon to study the elusive pink dolphin. There is truth in myth, Montgomery reveals, and magic all around us." - BOOKLIST Scientists call them Inia geoffrensis, an ancient species of toothed whale whose origin dates back about 15 million years. To the local people of the Amazon, pink river dolphins are "botos", shape shifters that, in the guise of human desire, can claim your soul and take you to an enchanted underwater world. This book weaves ancient myth and modern science into one woman's search for these elusive creatures. Over four separate journeys, Sy Montgomery follows the dolphins, tracing their spiritual, historical and environmental past, present and future. She takes us to that perfect place where the Amazon melts into the forest, dolphins swim among treetops, and the twenty-first century dissolves into the beginning of time.

Welcome to a forest filled with water. In the wet season, the swollen Amazon becomes a looking glass into another world, where pink dolphins swim like something from a dream. In Peru they are called bufeo colorado—the ruddy dolphin. Their color ranges from white to gray to a vivid pink. These astonishing mammals, actually river-dwelling whales, easily navigate their way through the complex, hazardous world of the Amazon rain forest. Encantado invites readers on the adventure of a lifetime as we travel into one of the world’s most lush and beautiful jungles in search of these magical creatures. Our guides include scientists and researchers as well as the local people, who have lived with the encantados—the enchanted ones—literally at their doorsteps for centuries. Our main guides are the dolphins themselves. They lead us into myth. They take us back in time to a prehistoric era. They alone can show us the depth of the Amazon’s beauty, diversity, and magic—and help us to keep our planet rich and whole.

Introduces the pink river dolphin, describing its physical characteristics, habitat, life cycle, and ways in which it protects itself from predators.

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* The Kindle version of 1000 Days Between is included -- for FREE -- with your purchase of the paperback version. Simply complete your purchase and the price of the Kindle book will drop to $0.00. * The first twelve chapters are available for free here: http://bit.ly/12PW0XZ Dan Perry's life is great. He has a cushy job at IBM, dines at fancy restaurants and drives a shiny black Corvette. He's living the American Dream. But is it his dream? After much agonizing, Dan realizes that he values experiences over possessions. And the experience he wants most is to travel the world. But his lifestyle has left him broke and his job keeps him tethered to his desk. He decides to make some big changes. Dan claws his way out of debt and begins to save. When he has enough money, he quits his job, sheds his fancy stuff and buys a one-way ticket for Peru. He doesn't know where he'll go or what he'll do; he only knows that it's time to start living his dream. Dan isn't a world adventurer. His fast-food diet and sedentary lifestyle have left him lazy and out of shape. Even so, a week into his trip he slogs up a trail to a 16,000-foot mountain pass in the Central Andes. Later he spends eight days hiking through a national park in Patagonia. But it's not until Dan joins a dugout canoe expedition down an Amazon tributary that his odyssey truly takes shape. 1000 Days Between is the inspirational true story of a man who leaves a promising career to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey. How far will he go? Only time will tell.

Dolphins have fascinated humans for millennia, giving rise to an abundance of stories and myths about them, yet the actual details of their lives in the sea have remained elusive. In this enthralling book, Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff take us into the dolphins' aquatic world to witness firsthand how they live their lives, communicate, and interact with one another and with other species, including people. Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff are scientists who have collectively dedicated more than 40 years to studying dolphins beneath the ocean's surface, frequently through a close-up underwater lens. Drawing on their own experiences and on up-to-the-minute research, the authors show that dolphins are decidedly not just members of a group but distinct individuals, able to communicate with one another and with humans. Dudzinski and Frohoff introduce a new way of looking at, and listening to, the vocabulary of dolphins in the sea, and they even provide an introductory "dolphin dictionary," listing complex social signals that dolphins use to share information among themselves and with people. Unveiling an intimate and scientifically accurate portrait of dolphins, this book will appeal to everyone who has wanted a closer glimpse into the hearts and minds of these amazing creatures.

It was crazy. It was unthinkable. It was the adventure of a lifetime. When Don and Dana Starkell left Winnipeg in a tiny three-seater canoe, they had no idea of the dangers that lay ahead. Two years and 12,180 miles later, father and son had each paddled nearly twenty million strokes, slept on beaches, in jungles and fields, dined on tapir, shark, and heaps of roasted ants. They encountered piranhas, wild pigs, and hungry alligators. They were arrested, shot at, taken for spies and drug smugglers, and set upon by pirates. They had lived through terrifying hurricanes, food poisoning, and near starvation. And at the same time they had set a record for a thrilling, unforgettable voyage of discovery and old-fashioned adventure. "Courageous . . . Exciting and always immediate." -- The New York Times Book Review