Research published in Nature has discovered how baleen whales - which include blue, grey and minke whales, make sound. The work finds that these whales have developed a larynx that enables them to use low frequency sound to communicate long distances underwater. The work suggests that they can communicate this way when less than 100 metres deep, and at a maximum of 300Hz. This is the same frequency as the sound made by large cargo ships, meaning they are likely being drowned out by shipping, making it more difficult to communicate and find mates. Researchers have yet to dicover how these whales hear, to determine whether the noise we make is disrupting their communication.
Professor Coen Elemans, of the University of Southern Denmark, lead author of the work said: "our oceans are filled with human made noise from shipping lanes, drilling activity and seismic guns. We need strict regulations on this noise, because these whale are dependent on sound for communication. We’ve show that despite their amazing physiology, they literally cannot escape the noise humans make in the oceans."
Whales are being drowned out by the sound of shipping | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Evolutionary novelties underlie sound production in baleen whales | Nature
