A new study shows that baby humpback whales can “whisper” to their mothers to avoid predators.
Known for the eerie beauty of its song, the singing of a humpback whale can travel for miles through the ocean. A new study out from Dr. Simone Videsen of Aarhus University in Denmark has now shown that baby humpback whales can “whisper” to their mothers in order to avoid predators. And mom can whisper back.
The team of scientists led by Dr. Videsen tracked eight baby whales and two mothers. Their mission was to examine the earliest months of a humpback’s life. They especially targeted the relationship between calf and mother. What they found was a unique, weaker form of communication shared between the two.
Baby Humpback Whales Whisper to Mom for Protection
Special suction cups with highly sensitive microphones were attached to the whales’ skin. They detected tiny sounds and vibrations between both animals, an obvious form of communication. This is the first time these patterns were ever recorded in this manner.
“But when you look at the communication pattern between mother and calf you see that they’re often silent and they do produce these weaker signals.”
Dr. Videson also said that this came as a real surprise. Humpback whales are a quite vocal species under normal circumstances. They also have quite long songs.
The researchers believe the purpose of this lower level of communication is to avoid attracting predators. While adults face few predators in the wild, baby humpback whales are far more vulnerable. They are especially so when counting in large shark species.
While in the tropical, shallow nursery seas where they are born, the calves are safer. But when they make the 5,000-mile trek toward one of the poles to their feeding grounds, things become far more dangerous in the open ocean.
One new fear is that ocean traffic, especially in the trade currents shared by these whales and human shipping, has become so noisy that it may well drown out this private communication between mother and child in order to avoid predators.
Image Source: Flickr
