Sunday Funday One Day Early: Lonely Whale

The video for Sunday is going up a day early because I've already got it figured out. You've probably heard the story about the baleen whale that marine biologists have been following for decades? They found it first in 1989 and have followed it around since 1992. It's known as the Loneliest Whale In the World because it sings at a higher frequency than any other whale ever documented; it's never been seen, only recorded; and it's always the only voice on record, no friends or family whales with it, presumably because no other whales can hear it sing and communicate with it. Whales sing at a low frequency generally, and lower frequencies travel farther in the ocean than higher ones, I guess, so they are able to communicate much farther than a whale with a high-pitched voice might be able to do. It's actually kind of heart-breaking, but every time I re-hear the story about this particular whale I wonder what happened to its parents? Whales don't usually get abandoned as little calves; they're pack animals, so it's bizarre that this one is on a completely different migratory path than any other baleen whale and sings at a frequency that no other whale can hear. Some have decided (without seeing it) that it must be deformed or some hybrid sort of whale that's been ostracized from it's family group. Another theory is that it is deaf. And still others think this whale is the last of a certain species of whale who spends all its days swimming and singing trying to find someone like it, to no avail. No matter what, it's a heart-breaking kind of story. Here is the 2004 NY Times article on it that started the hullaballoo and before the whale was given it's lonely moniker. There are tons and tons of blog posts and things on it since 2004 that offer more information, which is kind of sad/funny that this lonely creature is all over the internet.

And the video for this weekend is of (what else?) Baleen whales singing. So, if I understand it correctly, the whales you hear in this video are singing at a much much lower frequency than the Loneliest Whale in the World (which, I really think we should name something else, because that's just sad), and apparently can't hear the higher frequency calls.