Whales are spectacularly large mammals (up to 60 feet in length), and along with dolphins, probably the most exciting and fascinating of all animals. Both are descendants of land-living creatures that returned to the water after living on land for millions of years. That may explain some of the mutual kinship and spirituality we seem to feel with them, a feeling that psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Nina Cerfolio, MD, beautifully describes in My Mystical Encounter With a Wild Gray Whale, her extraordinary encounter with one of these majestic beings.