Richard Ellis Read over Richard's forum

Richard Ellis has swum with humpback whales in Hawaii, and right whales and dusky dolphins in Patagonia.

But perhaps his most memorable encounter with a whale happened in 1981, when he participated in the rescue of a sperm whale in Fire Island, New York. The 25-foot whale, nicknamed"Physty," had first stranded himself at Coney Island, and then again at Fire Island. Richard's team got in the water with the whale and tried to feed and medicate him, but Physty was probably saved because he got some rest. After a week, he was swimming strongly so Richard's team herded him back out to sea and never saw him again. It was the first time anyone had ever been in the water with a live sperm whale and lived to tell about it.

In 1993, Richard transformed this story into his first children's book, Physty. But this is far from Richard's only foray into the world of publishing.

Richard Ellis is recognized as the foremost painter of marine natural history subjects in America. His paintings of whales have appeared in Audubon, National Wildlife, Australian Geographic, Encyclopedia Britannica, and numerous other national and international publications. In addition to painting, Mr. Ellis is the author of more than 80 magazine articles. He has appeared in numerous television specials and has written screenplays on whales for PBS. Richard is the author of several books besides Physty: the book of whales, dolphins and porpoises, great white shark, men and whales, deep atlantic, Imagining Atlantis, The Search for the Giant Squid. His Encyclopedia of the Sea is scheduled for publication by Knopf in October 2000, and he is currently working on a study of the origin, evolution, and extinction of life in the sea.