This article should be seen as an extension of ‘British Whales and Dolphins’ by Vasili Papastavrou (British Wildlife 2:4) in which Vassili discussed the status, threats to and conservation problems of cetaceans. Identifying a cetacean in its natural habitat is made difficult by a number of factors. For one it is a bit like trying to assess the exact size of an iceberg: the vast majority of it is invisible under the water.
