Writer Karen Romano Young takes an icebreaker to Barrow, Alaska, to join in the festival of Naluqatak and learn about the intimate relationship between the Inupiat Eskimos and the bowhead whale. Listen as she tells Ari Daniel Shapiro how the whole community turns out for whale hunt, how the bowhead nourishes the Inupiat, both physically and spiritually—and how the hunt is proving to be an unexpected gift to scientists.

 

Photo Credit:David Rugh, National Marine Mammal Lab, NMFS, NOAA

 

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Duration: 5:14
Published: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:51:25 +0000