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Southern Resident whales

Ambitious plan to free captive orca Lolita announced

The new owner of the Miami Seaquarium in the US has announced that it is...

Trade sanctions announced after Mexico fails to protect near extinct porpoise

The international body behind the treaty that protects endangered plants and animals from the threats...

WDC exposes failure of Government scheme to protect whales and dolphins from net deaths

Following our investigations, we have revealed that a UK Government scheme to protect whales and...

First cases of bird flu in dolphins discovered in the UK

The UK Government has announced that two dolphins and a harbour porpoise have died from...

Mystery sound in Mariana trench could be a whale

Scientists from Oregon State University believe whales might be responsible for creating a mysterious sound picked up by acoustic devices in the Mariana Trench.

The 2500km long trench, located in the western Pacific, contains the deepest part of the world’s oceans, one point reaching a depth of nearly 11,000 metres (36,000ft).

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part call includes deep moans  at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a metallic finale that pushes as high as 8,000 hertz. It has become known as the “Western Pacific Biotwang”. The sound was recorded using ocean gliders.

The recordings most closely resembles the “Star Wars” noises made by dwarf minke whales found on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and while little is known about minke whale populations at low latitudes, there are known to be regional differences in their calls. A further puzzling feature is that the sounds were recorded throughout the year, whereas baleen whales usually are more vocal during the winter breeding season. Further research will be needed to identify if indeed the sounds were made by a whale, and if so, which species and whether it is connected to breeding or not.

 

A new baleen whale call recorded in the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument
Sharon L. Nieukirk, Selene Fregosi, and David K. Mellinger Holger Klinck
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 


About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.