The Loneliest Whale in the World
A lone whale with a voice unlike any other has been wandering the world's largest ocean for past 2 decades.
In 1989, a team of WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanic Institution) biologists
first detected an unusual sound in the North Pacific Ocean. It had all
the repetitive, low-frequency earmarks of a whale call, but at a unique
frequency of 52 hertz, which was far higher th
an the normal 15-to-25-hertz range of blue or fin whales. The sound was detected again 1990 and 1991. (Source 4)
Later, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy partially
declassified its Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), a hydrophone network
built to monitor Soviet submarines. Using SOSUS, the team picked up the
lone call of the same 52-hertz whale and have tracked it every year
since, as it roamed widely through the North Pacific, from offshore
California to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
The whale has
been dubbed "52 hertz" and although scientists are uncertain of the
species, it is surely a baleen whale, which is a group that includes
blue, fin, and humpback whales. And it is precisely because of its
unusual frequency that all of its calls and songs go unheard and
unanswered, as most baleen whales will sing in the 15-25 hertz range.
Scientists speculate that the unusual frequency could be because that
the whale is malformed, or it could possibly be a hybrid, or maybe even
the last or only known individual of a previously unknown species.
Although it may be disheartening to know this tale of the loneliest
whale in the world singing alone for 2 decades in the Pacific, there is
some reason for hope, too. 52 Hertz seems to be healthy, in spite of his
loneliness. In fact, the whale even seems to be maturing normally.
"The fact that this individual has been capable of existing in that
harsh environment for so many years indicates there is nothing wrong
with it," said Dr. Kate Stafford,a researcher at the National Marine
Mammal Laboratory in Seattle (source NY times)
You can also hear its recordings over here:
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/
Also, the 52-Hertz whale doesn't follow a migration pattern of any
other known baleen whale. Part of the gray whale's migration path covers
the same turf as the 52-Hertz whale, but gray whales travel much
further north.
Its migratory pattern:
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
Source:
1) Journal reference: Deep-Sea Research (vol 51, p 1889)
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/
3) http://www.alaskadispatch.com/
4) http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
5) http://blogs.discovery.com/
Image: 'Gray Whale in Grice Bay'
Photograph by Flip Nicklin
The Loneliest Whale in the World
A lone whale with a voice unlike any other has been wandering the world's largest ocean for past 2 decades.
In 1989, a team of WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanic Institution) biologists first detected an unusual sound in the North Pacific Ocean. It had all the repetitive, low-frequency earmarks of a whale call, but at a unique frequency of 52 hertz, which was far higher th
A lone whale with a voice unlike any other has been wandering the world's largest ocean for past 2 decades.
In 1989, a team of WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanic Institution) biologists first detected an unusual sound in the North Pacific Ocean. It had all the repetitive, low-frequency earmarks of a whale call, but at a unique frequency of 52 hertz, which was far higher th
an the normal 15-to-25-hertz range of blue or fin whales. The sound was detected again 1990 and 1991. (Source 4)
Later, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy partially declassified its Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), a hydrophone network built to monitor Soviet submarines. Using SOSUS, the team picked up the lone call of the same 52-hertz whale and have tracked it every year since, as it roamed widely through the North Pacific, from offshore California to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
The whale has been dubbed "52 hertz" and although scientists are uncertain of the species, it is surely a baleen whale, which is a group that includes blue, fin, and humpback whales. And it is precisely because of its unusual frequency that all of its calls and songs go unheard and unanswered, as most baleen whales will sing in the 15-25 hertz range.
Scientists speculate that the unusual frequency could be because that the whale is malformed, or it could possibly be a hybrid, or maybe even the last or only known individual of a previously unknown species.
Although it may be disheartening to know this tale of the loneliest whale in the world singing alone for 2 decades in the Pacific, there is some reason for hope, too. 52 Hertz seems to be healthy, in spite of his loneliness. In fact, the whale even seems to be maturing normally.
"The fact that this individual has been capable of existing in that harsh environment for so many years indicates there is nothing wrong with it," said Dr. Kate Stafford,a researcher at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle (source NY times)
You can also hear its recordings over here:
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/
Also, the 52-Hertz whale doesn't follow a migration pattern of any other known baleen whale. Part of the gray whale's migration path covers the same turf as the 52-Hertz whale, but gray whales travel much further north.
Its migratory pattern:
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
Source:
1) Journal reference: Deep-Sea Research (vol 51, p 1889)
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/
3) http://www.alaskadispatch.com/
4) http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
5) http://blogs.discovery.com/
Image: 'Gray Whale in Grice Bay'
Photograph by Flip Nicklin
Later, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy partially declassified its Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), a hydrophone network built to monitor Soviet submarines. Using SOSUS, the team picked up the lone call of the same 52-hertz whale and have tracked it every year since, as it roamed widely through the North Pacific, from offshore California to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
The whale has been dubbed "52 hertz" and although scientists are uncertain of the species, it is surely a baleen whale, which is a group that includes blue, fin, and humpback whales. And it is precisely because of its unusual frequency that all of its calls and songs go unheard and unanswered, as most baleen whales will sing in the 15-25 hertz range.
Scientists speculate that the unusual frequency could be because that the whale is malformed, or it could possibly be a hybrid, or maybe even the last or only known individual of a previously unknown species.
Although it may be disheartening to know this tale of the loneliest whale in the world singing alone for 2 decades in the Pacific, there is some reason for hope, too. 52 Hertz seems to be healthy, in spite of his loneliness. In fact, the whale even seems to be maturing normally.
"The fact that this individual has been capable of existing in that harsh environment for so many years indicates there is nothing wrong with it," said Dr. Kate Stafford,a researcher at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle (source NY times)
You can also hear its recordings over here:
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/
Also, the 52-Hertz whale doesn't follow a migration pattern of any other known baleen whale. Part of the gray whale's migration path covers the same turf as the 52-Hertz whale, but gray whales travel much further north.
Its migratory pattern:
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
Source:
1) Journal reference: Deep-Sea Research (vol 51, p 1889)
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/
3) http://www.alaskadispatch.com/
4) http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/
5) http://blogs.discovery.com/
Image: 'Gray Whale in Grice Bay'
Photograph by Flip Nicklin
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