12.07.2019, 20:02
Southern Whales Learned to Whisper with Each Other
Source: OREANDA-NEWS
OREANDA-NEWS The females and calves of southern smooth whales have developed a special behavior strategy that helps them avoid the attack of killer whales.
Scientists have noticed that these mammals spend a lot of time in the muddy water off the coast. There predators can not notice them, but the whales themselves lose sight of each other. In order to maintain contact, they are forced to overlap. But their sounds were surprisingly quiet, reports the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Employees of Aarhus University (Denmark) studied the behavior of the whale population in Flinders Bay, Western Australia. They carefully selected whales and installed sound recording sensors on their skins.
Sensors remained on elders for about seven hours, on cubs - only forty minutes, since they behaved actively, constantly rubbed about their mother and played with them. But the researchers still managed to record about 63 hours of whale "conversations." They assumed that the females constantly communicate with the cubs, but they called out to the offspring only once during the dive and did it very quietly. The crash of the surf in shallow water muffled voices already at a distance of several hundred meters.
Scientists have concluded that whales are hiding from predators. The size of a whale's baby is five to eight meters, but it is very vulnerable to attack. Therefore, females by all means tend to disguise themselves in the environment and not attract the attention of killer whales.
Scientists have noticed that these mammals spend a lot of time in the muddy water off the coast. There predators can not notice them, but the whales themselves lose sight of each other. In order to maintain contact, they are forced to overlap. But their sounds were surprisingly quiet, reports the Journal of Experimental Biology.
Employees of Aarhus University (Denmark) studied the behavior of the whale population in Flinders Bay, Western Australia. They carefully selected whales and installed sound recording sensors on their skins.
Sensors remained on elders for about seven hours, on cubs - only forty minutes, since they behaved actively, constantly rubbed about their mother and played with them. But the researchers still managed to record about 63 hours of whale "conversations." They assumed that the females constantly communicate with the cubs, but they called out to the offspring only once during the dive and did it very quietly. The crash of the surf in shallow water muffled voices already at a distance of several hundred meters.
Scientists have concluded that whales are hiding from predators. The size of a whale's baby is five to eight meters, but it is very vulnerable to attack. Therefore, females by all means tend to disguise themselves in the environment and not attract the attention of killer whales.
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