Whale, a common name, a simple word, but so many meanings. An animal, a good, a belief, a surprise, a part of these aspects or the encompassing of them all. It is, for sure, a being of some kind, but one that is described, depicted and appropriated in several forms, in a multitude of ways. To the whale is always assigned a role, but its relevance to distinct groups of society and its presentation to diverse audiences, across history, can be very different from one type of source to another. Working from the question – what's in a whale? – we present a study on the long-term human-whale relationships (from the 13th century onwards) connecting history and literature, to highlight the deep entanglement of societies and cultures with the marine environment. We aim at understanding the significance of whales and how culture, knowledge and values determine human behavior and actions towards these mammals. For that, we run through a long timeframe analyzing the whale, mostly based on Portuguese written sources, in comparison with European data, to discuss it as a commodity, a monster, a show and an icon. What we find is that the whale – real or conceptualized – has continuously been an element of human fascination. It is not merely a whale, but a wonder whale. An animal that still attracts crowds of people when it strands on nearby shores or when its blow is spotted in the horizon. The wonder whale allows for a close connection of people with the strange, enormous, paradoxical, ambivalent, still much unknown, oceanic realm.

Marine functional connectivity (MFC) refers to the flows of organic matter, genes, and energy that are caused by the active and passive movements of marine organisms. Occurring at various temporal and spatial scales, MFC is a dynamic, constantly evolving global ecological process, part of overall ecological connectivity, but with its own distinct and specific patterns. Geological and historical archives of changes in the distributions, life histories, and migration of species can provide baselines for deciphering the long-term trends (decadal to millions of years) and variability of MFC. In this food-for-thought paper, we identify the different types of geohistorical data that can be used to study past MFC. We propose resources that are available for such work. Finally, we offer a roadmap outlining the most appropriate approaches for analysing and interpreting these data, the biases and limitations involved, and what we consider to be the primary themes for future research in this field. Overall, we demonstrate how, despite differences in norms and limitations between disciplines, valuable data on ecological and societal change can be extracted from geological and historical archives, and be used to understand changes of MFC through time.

Historical science may play an important role in helping understanding and shaping the future of the world's oceans and to comprehend present day effects and conditions. Regarding cetaceans, historical accounts may be extremely useful to add new data to their occurrence and distribution in poorly studied regions. In Portugal, historical sources indicate that toninhas (possibly common dolphins Delphinus delphis) were observed since the 13th Century and were captured in large numbers during the late 19th and 20th Centuries. Historical occurrences given by naturalists and scientific surveys conducted by biologists indicate their regular presence with particular preference for certain areas. Also, recent observations of opportunity resulted in the same kind of accounts. Between 1976 and 1978, a study on captured cetaceans along the Portuguese shore found at fish markets was conducted and resulted in a total count of 45 cetaceans. Most captures were of small cetaceans (87% common dolphins), even though four baleen whales were registered. These cetacean captures were part of a local non-industrial fishery, as they were not the main target, but rather opportunistic catches or even by-catches of other fisheries. Delphinids were not protected by law at the time and were caught with hand harpoons or accidentally drowned in fish nets, sometimes sold at major fish markets such as Sesimbra, Peniche and Póvoa de Varzim. In geographical areas where recent cetacean sightings are rare and information is sparse, such as Portugal, it becomes important to take advantage of alternative sources of data. Our contribution towards the compilation of relevant historical and ‘forgotten’ science such as old natural observations, whaling data and observations of opportunity stresses the relevance of using historical data to access past occurrence and distribution of cetaceans.

Worldwide, whales have been hunted to the brink of extinction. In Brazil, whaling was a royal monopoly between 1614 and 1801. Within the dynamics of the Portuguese Empire, it was a stimulus that promoted wealth and the circulation of knowledge, practices, and products. The development of whaling stations in four coastal sites fostered the construction of littoral spaces, shaped the ways people perceived and used the ocean and marine animals, and left an impact on whale populations in a truly entangled history between humans and the non-human world. In this article, we aim to identify the main target species and number of animals caught through the analysis of historical sources from the 17th and 18th centuries. Southern Right Whale and Humpback Whale were the main target species, to a different extent, between the north-eastern and south-eastern whaling sites, but occasionally hunted simultaneously. We accounted for a total of 9080 animals captured in 41 years, between 1627 and 1801, and addressed hunting loss and calf-securing practices. In discussing biodiversity loss in the era of the Anthropocene, we expect to contribute to a better understanding of early impacts on marine life in the 1600-1800 period. Funding This paper had the support of CHAM (NOVA FCSH / UAc), through the strategic project sponsored by FCT (UIDB/04666/2020). The author was sponsored by a PhD scholarship by FCT (SFRH/BD/104932/2014). This study has received funding from the European project CONCHA (EU H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 777998) and the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant 4-Oceans (European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 951649). It has also received support from the UNESCO Chair ‘The Oceans’ Cultural Heritage’, OPI-Oceans Past Initiative, and APCM-Associação Para as Ciências do Mar.

The relationship between indigenous people and manatees in Brazil dates back to prehistoric times. It has been the subject of interdisciplinary research by specialists in marine environmental history, ethnozoology and anthropology. Manatee species, Thrichechus inunguis and Thrichechus manatus, form part of the local culture and traditions of their distribution regions: subtropical and tropical regions, as well as the entire Amazon basin and its Atlantic range. The estimated number of manatees in Brazil when the Europeans first arrived was in the tens of thousands. But the several uses of this exotic, large and strange New World creature not only meant that it featured from early times in literature, folklore and mythology, but also led to hunting and therefore falling populations. We have collected information from documentary sources that referred to manatees. These derived mainly from the early modern era, and included travel books, letters from Portuguese and Spanish missionaries and explorers, chronicles, scientific treatises, illustrated broadsheets, leaflets and images in naturalists’ records, sailors’ reports, folklore sources, poetry and literature. Our main goal was to frame and discuss the first historical accounts of the human exploitation, uses and perceptions of manatees in the Americas. This facilitated analysis of the abundance and uses of manatees from the sixteenth century to this day, as well as discussion of conservation issues, which started to emerge during the mid-eighteenth century, around overexploited resources in colonial Brazil. In focusing on manatees, and other aquatic animals, we offer paradigmatic case studies of past ecosystems and the historical relationships between people and nature.