After wondrous visits to the aquarium or holidays spent on the coast, many of us have entertained aspirations of becoming a marine scientist. It’s hard not to wish sometimes that one’s office came with a refreshing sea breeze and one’s officemates were charming, intelligent creatures like dolphins and whales. All of us shore-bound dreamers are here invited to join Maddalena Bearzi inside the world of a marine scientist. In Dolphin Confidential she offers a fascinating close-up look at the lives of marine mammals, as well as the frustrations, delights, and creativity that make up dolphin research. 

 

In this intimate narrative, Bearzi recounts her experiences at sea, tracing her own evolution as a woman and a scientist from her earliest travails to her transformation into an advocate for conservation and dolphin protection. These compelling, in-depth descriptions of her fieldwork also present a captivating look into the social behavior and striking intelligence of dolphins. The central part of the book is devoted to the metropolitan bottlenose dolphins of California, as Bearzi draws on her extensive experience to offer insights into the daily lives of these creatures—as well as the difficulties involved in collecting the data that transforms hunches into hypotheses and eventually scientific facts. The book closes by addressing the critical environmental and conservation problems facing these magnificent, socially complex, highly intelligent, and emotional beings.  

 

An honest, down-to-earth analysis of what it means to be a marine biologist in the field today, Dolphin Confidential offers an entertaining, candid, and inspiring description of life among the dolphins.

 

Maddalena Bearzi has studied the ecology and conservation of marine mammals and sea turtles for over twenty years. She is founder of the Los Angeles Dolphin Project in California, cofounder of the Ocean Conservation Society, and coauthor of Beautiful Minds: The Parallel Lives of Great Apes and Dolphins. She lives in Los Angeles and is available for interviews.