Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...

Whales whisper to avoid attack

Most whales are known for their loud underwater calls that can reach across many miles of ocean, but scientists have revealed that newborn humpback whales and their mothers frequently whisper to each other as part of a defence mechanism against attack.

The study, by researchers from Denmark and Australia revealed unique, intimate forms of communication between mothers and calves thought to be used to avoid any potential predators like orcas from listening in, locating and then killing the calves

A number of the mothers and young were observed by the research team in Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, a breeding ground for Antarctic humpback whales.

“They don’t want any unwanted listeners,” researcher Simone Videsen, lead author of a study published in Functional Ecology, said.

“These signals between mother and calf are more quiet than those of normal adult humpback whales. The pairs in the study could only hear each others’ calls within a distance of less than 100 metres”, she added.

Why not adopt a humpback and help these amazing creatures.

Mother and calf humpback whale swimming underwater