Whales

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The Whale That’s Known Only by the Sound of Its Voice

The underwater microphone first picked up the distinctive ping around 4:00 a.m. In the water off Hawai‘i, there it was: the unknown whale’s signature call. Jennifer McCullough, a biologist with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), checks her monitors. From her station on the research ship’s lower deck, her instruments are telling her the sounds are coming from only 200 meters away. She radios up to the bridge, guiding the crew to keep the whales in front of the ship. For 18 years, scientists have been sporadically recording the sounds of this mystery animal. With a bit more light, McCullough might finally, finally, be able to spot one.

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/the-whale-thats-known-only-by-the-sound-of-its-voice/?

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How do whales sing? Lab experiments suggest their voice boxes have a unique feature

LONDON (AP) — Whales sing loud enough that their songs travel through the ocean, but knowing the mechanics behind that has been a mystery.

https://apnews.com/article/whales-song-ocean-voice-box-humpback-baleen-afc3b4c42606c09782bc8e77e46d1923?

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? How whales sing

A humpback whale calf in the waters of Moorea. Photo: Karim Iliya The songs of humpback, blue and other baleen whales are generated by the unusual anatomy of their larynx, Axios managing editor Alison Snyder writes from a new paper in Nature. Why it matters: A whale's song helps it find other animals in the vast ocean and plays a large role in its behavior, study co-author Coen Elemans, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark, told PopSci. When the land mammals that were ancestors of today's whales returned to the sea, they needed to be able to inhale and exhale large volumes of air when they surfaced to breathe, and to hold that air in when they sang underwater. Scientists concluded that baleen whales have "unique laryngeal structures .... [that] allow some of the largest animals that ever lived to efficiently produce frequency-modulated, low-frequency calls." Go deeper.

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Authorities are trying to help a sperm whale beached off Florida’s Gulf Coast

VENICE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities were seeking to assist a beached sperm whale stranded on a sandbar off Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sunday, but said conditions in the water were too dangerous for crews to safely approach and administer a sedative.

https://apnews.com/article/beached-whale-venice-florida-9295ccbf4cb786568f2735b0a3527c71?

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Scientists are learning the basic building blocks of sperm whale language after years of effort

ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Scientists studying the sperm whales that live around the Caribbean island of Dominica have described for the first time the basic elements of how they might be talking to each other, in an effort that could one day help better protect them.

https://apnews.com/article/sperm-whale-language-talk-clicks-a94df8e07b129f19917437fcb85e7655?

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Creature that washed up on New Zealand beach may be world's rarest whale

Wellington, New Zealand — Spade-toothed whales are the world's rarest, with no live sightings ever recorded. No one knows how many there are, what they eat, or even where they live in the vast expanse of the southern Pacific Ocean. However, scientists in New Zealand may have finally caught a break.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3528857347453-creature-that-washed-up-on-new-zealand-beach-may-be-worlds-rarest-whale?

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Elusive orcas

Researchers are learning more about mysterious killer whales by documenting their hunting strategies and feeding behavior. One interesting observation: They’re highly social animals.

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Offering a dose of healing, curious beluga whales frolic in a warming Hudson Bay

ON HUDSON BAY (AP) — Playful large white beluga whales bring joy and healing to Hudson Bay. Their happy chirps leap out in an environment and economy threatened by the warming water melting sea ice, starving polar bears and changing the entire food chain.

https://apnews.com/article/beluga-whales-climate-change-hudson-bay-social-e8148924d3f3455afd9bfc465dd58543?

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Rare whale died of chronic entanglement in Maine fishing gear

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A rare whale found dead off Massachusetts earlier this year died as a result of entanglement in Maine lobster fishing gear, federal authorities said.

https://apnews.com/article/right-whale-entangled-endangered-maine-7ffdd2faf5b09dfd476395ca0ff728a5?

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Right whale population grows 4% but extinction remains a threat

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine (AP) — One of the rarest species of whale in the world has increased slightly in population, encouraging conservationists to call on the federal government and the shipping and fishing industries to do more to bring the giant animals back from the brink of extinction.

https://apnews.com/article/endangered-right-whales-deaths-oceans-fishing-af43c6116421e7eff9ede5f9ca9a5066?

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Carcass of endangered fin whale washes up near Alaska’s largest city

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An endangered fin whale that washed up near a coastal trail in Alaska’s largest city has attracted curious onlookers while biologists seek answers as to what caused the animal’s death.

https://apnews.com/article/washed-up-whale-alaska-08268de186579a2ca5bbaa4f98b3588c?

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This whale species is so rare it’s never been seen alive. A dissection may decode its mysteries

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It is the world’s rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever spotted. Almost nothing is known about the enigmatic species. But on Monday a small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand clustered around a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of mystery.

https://apnews.com/article/rarest-whale-zealand-spade-toothed-dissection-d71aad4ce6e47f4e1056a10cf5b8610e?

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Fresh fin whale meat is auctioned for the first time in decades in Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Meat from fin whales caught for the first time in nearly 50 years off Japan’s northern coast fetched up to more than $1,300 per kilogram (2.2 lbs) at auction Thursday, as officials try to keep the struggling industry alive.

https://apnews.com/article/japan-whaling-meat-fin-8e454678bf9c3418cd54ad60ebfcdb66?

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Court restores protections for endangered whale species to prevent entanglement in fishing gear

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Commercial fishermen who hoped for a loosening of fishing regulations during President Donald Trump’s administration faced a setback when a federal appeals court reinstated rules meant to protect a dwindling whale species from getting entangled in fishing gear.

https://apnews.com/article/lobster-fishing-right-whales-seafood-court-949dd5ac80a571baf923895b96bde6ad

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A humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker in Chilean Patagonia — and it’s all captured on camera

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (AP) — A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The incident, caught on camera, quickly went viral.

https://apnews.com/article/chile-kayaking-tourism-whale-b0cafde4b640326f20a9da28003d6c26?

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Experts sound alarm after capturing video of mother whale and calf in dangerous predicament: 'Heartbreaking'

Humpback whales are becoming entangled in shark nets off the coast of Australia, highlighting the threats these nets pose.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4275990452639-experts-sound-alarm-after-capturing-video-of-mother-whale-and-calf-in-dangerous-predicament-heartbreaking?

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One of the world’s rarest whales that makes the Atlantic its home grows in population

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — One of the rarest whales on the planet has continued an encouraging trend of population growth in the wake of new efforts to protect the giant animals, according to scientists who study them.

https://apnews.com/article/right-whales-endangered-species-fishing-4e732806eb7f52a0e3dc2db42dbd1361?

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Orcas Find New Prey in the Arctic

Killer whales are the ultimate marine predator. Even the great white shark is no match for the intelligence and power of an orca. They patrol every ocean on Earth, and no prey species is too large or too fierce for them. But until recently, they faced one limit: the high Arctic. Sea ice blocked narrow entries to both the east and west coasts of the North American Arctic, forming a barrier between these perfect predators and whole habitats rich in potential prey.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/orcas-find-new-prey-arctic?

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Oldest known whale recording could unlock mysteries of the ocean A haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known. Read more.

Why this matters: The song is that of a humpback whale and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The ocean of the late 1940s was much quieter than the ocean of today, providing a different backdrop than scientists are used to hearing for whale song, researchers explain. The discovery of long-lost whale song from a quieter ocean could be a jumping-off point to better understanding the sounds the animals make today, said Hansen Johnson, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. “It’s pretty special,” said Johnson.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ LISTEN: Rediscovered whale recordings from decades ago   The breakthrough whale discovery by the numbers

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Stranded humpback begins journey back to sea after four-day rescue operation. A roughly 40-foot, 26,000-pound humpback whale trapped in shallow waters off Germany's Baltic coast broke free yesterday. After many failed attempts, rescuers dug a channel the whale used to swim to open waters (watch here). Experts hope the whale will use the straits between Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to reach the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, which are native humpback habitats.

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Whale, You Don't Say

Sperm whale communication follows a strikingly similar pattern to human speech, according to a study published yesterday.  Previous research has shown how these massive mammals—some weighing more than 100,000 pounds—communicate using clicks known as codas, which resemble human vowels (listen here). Now, a new analysis of nearly 4,000 codas from 15 calves and females reveals that sperm whales shorten, elongate, and vary tone to produce thousands of possible combinations. Researchers likened the patterns to elements of Mandarin, Latin, and Slovenian. The analysis also suggests individual whales have distinct cadences.  The study is part of Project CETI, an international quest to translate—and eventually communicate with—sperm whales using robotics and artificial intelligence. Listen to founder David Gruber explain his inspiration and ambitious vision here.