Blue whale reappears

Experts say they have detected the kind of sound signal that calls each other of the North Atlantic blue whale in a sea that used to be where whales live. This is really a good sign of this rare animal.

These sounds were recorded in Cape Farewell Ground in southeastern Greenland Island.

The head of Oregon State University researcher David Mellinger said there may be more whales than estimated.

During the second half of the 1980s, blue whales in the Cape Farewell Ground were faced with extinction due to severe hunting. In the past 50 years, only two whales have been found in this area.

The number of these whales is now only about 350, and is listed on the list of endangered species of the Nature Conservation Association.

From July 2007 until July 2008, the research team led by Mellinger used underwater recording devices, located in the Cape Farewell Ground area and collected about 2000 audio signals calling each other. of the blue whale. They think that the audio signal must be from at least 3 whales and maybe even more than that number.

Blue whale (Photo: nationalgeographic.com)

According to Mellinger, most blue whales in the North Atlantic region swim to New England or Nova Scotia islands to feed, so the Cape Farewell Ground dolphins can be the dolphins that scientists know. Learning has never been known. And this gives a hint that this whale is occupying the Cape Farewell Ground area or this is their regular habitat.

Although there is no hunt for whales in the Cape Farewell Ground, there are many dangers lurking in any species that lives here. For example, the Arctic region will be able to melt ice in the next few decades, and this also means that a new sea route will appear, extending through the area where the whale resides. Mellinger feared that the arrival of sea-going ships would be the main cause of the death of blue whales, which would risk being destroyed by humans as the whales often migrated south when winter comes and will most likely swim through the train routes. It is indeed a great threat to their existence.

The study was reported last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Sound Research in Portland, Oregon.