I would have given anything to be there. I always wanted to touch a whale and to communicate with them. It would be fun. Thank you for showing this. Gail

I love the clips of the "stewards" throwing their Federal weight around and telling people they will charge you $100,000 to touch the whale. They call it a fine, I call it chump change to the super rich. I can see Paul Allen, Gates, etc out there petting the whale for hours and not even notice a dent in their bank account. I am sure the "stewards" mean well but once the official biologists and scientific types get involved they invoke all kinds of reasons to ruin things for everyone. What is wrong with the whale wanting human contact? The whale was healthy, not eating hand outs, and not killed by any boat props. I think the do gooders have over reached once again.

Luna's death by boat propellor is likely due to his extreme friendliness. So sad.

I read the article About Luna and was so amazed to see how Luna wanted to interact with humans and not e en trained to do so. What a thrill for the ability to video-tape and interact with Luna. How often in anyone's lifetime does this happen? Granted, we must take all precautions when dealing with a wild animal that really tries to communicate with us, but what an awesome experience. I would have loved to have seen him & so saddened to learn that he was killed by a propeller, no less What a loss!! Please continue your filming and research, as for myself I truly appreciate your efforts and wish I were right there helping you! Hang in there, and I will be awaiting other films and articles in the near future...Thankyou again.......

Dudes!! You're awesome...
Hint: You got me so interested in the diverse content you have that I looked for you on the twitter... There's smithsonianedu and others, but not smithsonianmag that shares this content.
I'd follow you blindly
cheers

I received the Smithsonian magazine dated July/August 2011 from my father-in-law yesterday and was very happy I looked inside and found this story about Luna the whale. Also went online to watch the clip this morning and it will be a must for us to see when it comes around in our Indianapolis area. Luna was a smart whale and I would have loved to have seen her in person and spent time like Suzanne Chisholm and her husband did there on Nootka Sound.

Thank you so much for sharing your story about Luna with all of us. Best wishes to you!

Claire

I'm the author of the article and co-director of The Whale, and I'd like to respond to Danielle's thoughtful letter from July 2.

One of the big differences between Luna's interaction with people and the familiar problem of bears and other wild animals seeking food is that Luna's determination to make contact was not for something to eat. When people tried to give him food he rejected it. He was apparently there for social reasons, for something like what we call friendship. That need seemed very strong; over several years the efforts of many people to prevent the contact were completely unsuccessful.

That makes the whole amazing story of Luna very relevant to the issue of anthropomorphism -- the description of animals' behaviour in human terms -- which is generally considered to be wrong. As many biologists have been finding, the lines of what constitutes anthropomorphism, at least in a negative sense, are being conceptually redrawn as physical and behavioral studies over the past couple of decades have shown again and again that many animals' emotions may resemble -- though not copy -- our own.

We touch on those matters in the film, but one of the many questions that the story of Luna raises but does not answer is this: how do we understand and describe animal emotions that science recognizes and that humans can sense in empathetic ways, without making the anthropomorphic mistake of thinking that their experience is just like ours?

Figuring that out will be a great step in learning how to make our relationships with the complex and emotional beings outside our own species more rewarding and safe for both sides.

Best wishes to all, and thank you for your comments.

Michael Parfit
www.thewhalemovie.com

An inspiring story. I can't wait to see the movie.

I am so taken by this movie.

What an amazing and touching story! That must have been such an amazing experience for everyone who was able to be a part of it. Thank you for sharing with us. We were in Vancouver last year and unfortunately did not make it out on the Orca tour, one regret I will live with forever.
Orcas are such beautiful animals.

What an amazing clip! I must see the whole movie when it comes to our small town (Columbia, CA).
I just finished reading Michael Parfit's article in Smithsonian, and Farley Mowat's book "A Whale for the Killing".
This work furthers Mowat's premise, that whales are much more intelligent than we give them credit for.
Please keep up the good work and research!

In Pennsylvania where I live, we run into problems with visitors feeding the bears. Sometimes the bears will become very friendly, approaching people without threatening them. One bear in particular even allowed those that fed him to take photos along side him. Unfortunately it was decided that this bear needed to be put down. We forget sometimes that Orcas and brown bears are fierce predators. They are also very intelligent and sensitive to our reactions, making it very easy to anthropomorphize them. We need to realize that these are wild animals and we need to respect their habitat and give them space, even when they break the barrier themselves.

Amazing.