Sea monster, mermaid or whale tale?
Through the centuries, whales have been a source of fear, mystery, literacy, history and even mythology. Either way, humans have always been curious to learn more about these gigantic cetaceans.
For years, mainly because of their size, sailors and explorers were terrified by them, preferring to sail close to home until they felt the need to discover the world and its treasures?the need to become rich and famous.
So to people on land, they either became known as sea monsters or mermaids. The purpose of such tales was for making the sailors? adventures more interesting to others.
Mythology even created mermaids as being these female creatures luring sailors to their death by using magical songs. As for literacy, Moby Dick took care of that as it was mainly based on a whale tale made up by whalers.
Another whale tale concerns the narwhal, this white whale with a long tooth that reminds people of a sword. They made that shy and gentle marine mammal fierce. After Moby Dick, the sperm whale ended up with a bad reputation.
Since then, we learn a lot about whales: their intelligence, their physiology, their songs and language, their habitat, their feeding habits and so much more. The sea monsters and mermaids from the past became these peaceful giants that only wish to live their life without being bothered.
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