Sunday, March 13, 2011

1 is the Loneliest Number


Forget Nemo, someone needs to find this whale a friend! It has been tracked since 1992 and been labeled the loneliest whale in the world. Nicknamed "the 52 Hertz whale", it sings at a frequency of 51.75 Hz whereas others of it's kind sing at 15 - 25 Hz. To make a long story short, no one else can hear it; the frequency is completely different.

To make matters worse, it does not travel along migration routes of any baleen whale species. There is no opportunity for other whales to run into it along migration paths. For almost 2 decades the NOAA has been using "classified array of hydrophones employed by the Navy to monitor enemy submarines" to listen to it's desperate cries for attention trying to find a mate, friends, or anyone/thing that will listen. This simply breaks my heart.

"The best guess of researchers is that this lonely whale is either a 'deformed' hybrid between 2 species of whale, or the last surviving member of an unknown species." - Impact Lab

According to The New York Times article, the whale calls out at the regularity of a metronome. Now that is persistence. However, over time the notes have become to get a bit deeper and some feel it may be linked to sadness and despair. I hope that one day this whale bumps into another because everyone needs a friend! Even whales that sing their own tune :)

12 comments:

  1. This is so interesting! Thanks for sharing Kender!I wonder if he is the last of his kind or if he is a mix of two different species.. animals are facinating!

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  2. I hope she meets a nice porpoise somewhere along the way eventually. Maybe even a little fish like Dori.

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  3. Maybe researchers should strap on a 15-25 hertz recording of proper mating call to it and hope it attracts another stray whale sometime? It can't do anything but help the odds?? Very interesting - but sad :( story Kender

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  4. I promise to make my next post more upbeat!

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  5. Where is this poor whale located?

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  6. I wonder if she can be guided to the track of other baleen wales...how would she react to their calls?

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  7. OH this is so sad there's got to be another out there somewhere Heartbreaking :(

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  8. Isn't there a way to get it to another Pod of whales somewhere?? Poor baby....

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  9. where is this photo taken in BC.?

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  10. Poor baby :( im so sad

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