Saturday, April 20, 2013

WHALE MEET AGAIN

WHOI scientists have tracked a lone whale with a distinctive 52-hertz frequency call every year over a 12-year span—and over thousands of kilometers—using the Navy's hydrophone network built to monitor submarines. (Illustration by Jayne Doucette, WHOI)Now I am confused. The mystery of The Bloop was, I believe, laid to rest last year. However, along comes this story on Wildlife Extra. Is it the same putative mystery whale or something completely different  Like I said, I am confused, but. that is nothing new. Can any of you clarify this and put me out of my misery?
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1 comment:

  1. Dr Karl Shuker8:10 PM

    Hi Jon, The Bloop is a totally different mystery from the 52-Hertz whale (which is what this new story is about). The Bloop mystery has indeed been shown to be a noise created by icebergs, whereas the 52-Hertz whale remains unidentified, and was first reported several years before the Bloop.

    Here's Wikipedia's article re the Bloop:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bloop

    And here is Wikipedia's article re the 52-Hertz whale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52-Hertz_whale

    All the best, Karl

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