I've read in some sources that blue whales all over the world have been singing at increasingly lower frequencies or pitch since the 1960s. Sources also said that the opposite is happening for North Atlantic whales, and their calls have been rising in frequency over time. What are possible reasons for why whales change the frequency of their calls? And why is the opposite happening between blue whales and North Atlantic whales?
Thanks!
Hey Sam!
By frequency, do you mean the number of times whales have been calling out to each other or the frequency at which their whale song is, since their calls are at a frequency wherein humans can't hear them unless with the use of a software.
Hi Kiara!! To clarify, I mean the frequency at which their whale songs are. Thanks!
Hello again, Sam. You and I are both students in the same school, so I'm sure that you already know that I'm not a whale expert but I've been watching documentaries in Discovery Channel and National Geographic for years now, and from what I can recall in their discussions about sound frequencies, I think that the frequencies change depending on the range or distance that it needs to travel. Think of whale calls as a sort of Facebook status wherein every post has a privacy control setting that you can change from public to friends to friends of friends, which in a way can be translated to frequency. It's possible that environmental conditions have affected the geographic range at which whales can travel through or migrate, so it's also possible that whales may be adjusting the frequencies of their calls in response to this. It has already been reported that humans make so much noise in the ocean that it's making whale and other sea creature communication systems rendered ineffective. If the frequencies are getting higher, this might mean that the whales are trying to make themselves louder, or if the frequencies are getting lower, then the whales might be trying to make their calls reach farther out from where they are. Hopefully I make sense.
Good luck, Sam!
Thanks a lot Uwe and Kiara! I really appreciate your answers to my question. Good luck to you guys!
Hi Marian,
Can I ask which population or sub-population of blue whales are you referring to in the North Atlantic whales? Are these pygmy or large blue whales? Where in the North Atlantic whales were the recordings made? Is the information from your sources published? Please provide reference of sources.
I am current doing my PhD on the acoustic assessment of the distribution, seasonal abundance and migrations of Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) in the South-eastern Atlantic Ocean. So, I am not very clued up about the north Atlantic but please check out the below references they might help answer your question.
Best,
Fannie
Miller BS, Leaper R, Calderan S, Gedamke J. Red Shift, Blue Shift: Investigating Doppler Shifts, Blubber Thickness, and Migration as Explanations of Seasonal Variation in the Tonality of Antarctic Blue Whale Song. PLoS ONE 2014; 9(9): e107740. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0107740
Gavrilov AN, McCauley RD, Gedamke J. Steady inter and intra-annual decrease in the vocalization frequency of Antarctic blue whales. Journal of Acoustical Society of America 2012;131(6): 4476–4480.
McDonald, M.A., Hildebrand, J.A., Mesnick, S.L., 2006. Biogeographic characterization of blue whale song worldwide: using song to identify populations. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 8:55–65.
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