Endangered Species Research authors suggest existence of unknown Whale Population
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Environment; Biodiversity
In news
In a paper published in the journal Endangered Species Research, authors described a new whale song, suggesting the existence of a population that was previously unknown.
Key takeaways
Researchers have recorded the unique song off the coast of Oman in the northern Arabian Sea, off the western Chagos Archipalego, and off Madagascar in the southwestern Indian Ocean.
Since it is the only blue whale song identified by them in the western Arabian Sea, researchers have called it the “Northwest Indian Ocean”.
Researchers believe the source is either the blue whale or Bryde’s whale since both species have been documented off Oman previously.
Significance: Given that this song-type has not been reported before, the presence of it across a large geographic region indicates the likely existence of a previously undefined population of blue whales in the Western Indian Ocean.
Do you know?
Not all whales sing.
Only some, such as the baleen whale, have been found to sing songs.
Whales use songs to communicate and socialise.
Their songs can be characterised as clicks, whistles and pulsed calls or a composition of “moans, snores, chirps and cries”.
Whales use clicks to navigate and identify their surroundings as the sound bounces off objects, helping whales determine their shapes.
These use whistles and pulses during social activities.
Their songs can last between 6-35 minutes, and some individual whales have been found to sing for 22 hours.
Whale songs are typically below 4 kHz in frequency, thus being inaudible to human ears.
