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Salt and Friends
Matthew Clark
Salt and Friends: The heartwarming story of how whales were named
Produced by Dan Knaub
The Whale Video Company, 2001
 Salt and Friends is like an hour in the archives of the Humpback
Whale Video Dating Network. You know how it is. Singles make a cassette
tape where they can strut their stuff, tell amusing anecdotes about
themselves, trying to impress upon the viewer that they are, in fact,
the one.
In
the humpback whale version, we are presented with a collection of
vignettes, each spotlighting a different individual and focusing on
what makes him or her standout in a crowd. Take Regulus, for instance,
or "Reggie" as his friends call him. Basic whale behavior apparently
includes slapping your flipper against the surface of the water to
churn up some delectable fish. Well, as our insightful narrator is
happy to tell us...
"Reggie has put a twist on this activity that is very amusing.
Getting his flipper up in the air is no problem, but he has a problem
hitting the water. Reggie hits himself! In fact, Reggie is the only
whale who consistently hits himself."
Want some more? How about this insightful tale about a certain young gent you're sure to love...
"One day when Coral was just two years old he was seen with other
humpback whales. They were swimming near some seaweed. Young males
are very curious, and the seaweed was just too interesting for Coral
to ignore. Coral played with the seaweed for fifteen minutes!"
Fifteen minutes of seaweed!? If he can find enjoyment in
something as meaningless as that, just imagine how much he'll love
listening to every little thing that happened to you at work today!
And who could forget Colt? In a very stirring scene, Colt and three of his dapper friends perform "one of the most memorable events in whale watching history" as they sing and sound for a boatful of delighted humans. We are appropriately urged to "just listen for a minute to the beauty and excitement of this extraordinary moment." (Insert sounds not unlike a very melodic cow with its udder in a vice here.)
To be honest, I found the narrative in Salt and Friends rather
irksome. After introducing Reggie, for instance, the narrator says,
"Hitting yourself with a flipper that weighs 1,500 pounds must sting."
Well, duh.
That said, by no means think that Salt and Friends is without
merit. There really is a lot of great material presented here. What
at first may seem like a simplistic notion — naming whales —
is revealed to have great significance. It was not until the '70s
that whales were studied as individuals. Biologists had studied their
physiology and such before, but they had never taken note of the unique
personalities these wild animals possess.
We learn that Salt, then, was the first whale to be singled out in this fashion, when she was named for the white markings on her dorsal fin by whale watch Captain Aaron Avellar. The entire video is a testament to Avellar's belief that whales are far from the mindless, herd-mentality automatons they were once taken for.
Including calves, we are introduced to over twenty humpback whales.
On top of its educational aspects, the video is also wonderfully relaxing.
You can't help but agree with the narrator's sentiment that the way
these massive creatures move is often akin to an underwater ballet.
It is amazing to think that we have built an entire industry around
watching "lesser" creatures simply enjoying life. It reminds me of
a passage from the late and great Douglas Adams' novel, The Hitch
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
"Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins
because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and
so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about
in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had
always believed that they were far more intelligent than man —
for precisely the same reasons."
But hey, don't just take my word for it; see it yourself! For more
information, visit http://www.whalevideo.com.
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