I've always had a love for animals. I think it probably started when I was very young, and when I went to get a tonsillectomy and my parents bought me a baby animals book. I very clearly remember reading that book, and having it for quite some time. My parents then got me a subscription to Zoobooks and I was a subscriber for about 4 years up until I began getting duplicates and having had memorized almost all of the details in each one, it was just a matter of looking at pictures.
That's probably the reason that this story and also the one in the New York Times caught my attention. The "52 hertz whale" (aptly named for the frequency at which it calls out) has been tracked for about 12 years now. The species is unknown since the blue whale calls out between 15-20 hertz, and the next largest baleen whale is the Fin Whale calls out around 20 hertz.
This particular whale's species is unknown since it's never been seen. The NOAA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have been tracking this whale since 1992. The 52 hertz whale was first noticed by researcher William Watkins who passed away in September.
It's calls, first detected in 1989, go unanswered, possibly indicating either that it's deaf, a hybrid of two species, a lone member of a species, or possibly has a birth defect. The latter is unlikely since it's survived for at least 12 years.
Indeed, this story is incredibly sad yet fascinating.
Posted by yakuza at December 21, 2004 11:01 AM | TrackBack