1. lifelines
  2. In search of the loneliest whale

In search of the loneliest whale

By dr. dolittle on July 17, 2013.
Image of the 52 Hertz whale song from Wikimedia Commons, NOAA. Image of the 52 Hertz whale song from Wikimedia Commons, NOAA.

According to Discovery News, scientists and filmmakers are on the hunt for what people have called the Loneliest Whale in the World.

In 1989 William Watkins (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) discovered the vocalizations of a whale that were unlike that of any other whale. The vocalizations of the mystery whale were 52 Hertz whereas other whales sing in the 17-18 Hertz range, allowing their songs to travel far distances. Beginning in 1992, he and his team started tracking the movements of the 52 Hertz whale using recordings from the Navy, although they never actually saw it. To this day, the identity of this animal is unknown although it appears to still be alive. The goal of the planned documentary is to find the 52 Hertz whale and determine what species it is and whether it has a deformity causing the variation in frequency from other whales.

I look forward to seeing the documentary, Finding 52. 

Tags
Life Science
52
documentary
hertz
lonely
whale
Categories
Life Sciences

More like this

Unknown Chilean Population of Blue Whale Discovered
A blue whale from the eastern Pacific. According to the IUCN they are endangered. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. It amazes me that we can still in this day and era of satellites, technology and boats shipping goods everywhere that we can still find new populations of the world's largest living animal…
Biological sonar systems
Echolocation - or biological sonar - can be thought of as an auditory imaging system that is used by organisms in environments where vision is ineffective. It involves the emission of vocalizations by the animal, and the detection of the echoes of those sounds, which are used to produce three-…
The Acoustic Properties of Whale Song
Perhaps you've heard about the wayward humpback whales, a mother and calf, who had become disoriented and began swimming inland towards Sacramento, California. They were traveling down the Sacramento River, causing a lot of grief to the Coast Guard and to marine biologists trying to think of a way…
New Bird Species Discovered in Gabon, Africa
tags: new bird species, African forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, Gamba Complex, Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, ornithology, birds, avian, Smithsonian, researchblogging.org A male specimen of the newly-discovered olive-backed forest robin, Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus, is carefully examined in…