Scientists report whale making human voice sounds

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, October 22, 2012 18:59 EDT

 

Topics: National Marine Mammal Foundation ♦ Sam Ridgway ♦ white whale

 

WASHINGTON — US marine biologists puzzled by human-like sounds coming from the whale and dolphin tank of an aquarium concluded they were actually coming from a whale.
Anecdotal reports of whales sounding like people are not new. But in this case in San Diego, California, scientists for the first time recorded the utterances, did an acoustic analysis and were surprised to find a rhythm similar to that of human speech, Sam Ridgway of the National Marine Mammal Foundation reported Monday.
The sounds marked quite a feat: whales make sounds via their nasal tract, unlike people, who use their larynx. So this particular white whale had to make some tricky muscular and blowhole adjustments.
“Such obvious effort suggests motivation for contact,” said Ridgway, the main author of a study featured in the journal Current Biology. “The sounds we heard were clearly an example of vocal learning by the white whale.”
The whale, named NOC, died five years ago.
Ridgway says that back in 1984, he and others started hearing sounds near the whale and dolphin enclosure that recalled two people speaking in the distance, too far away to be understood.
The sounds were later traced to one particular white whale when a diver in its tank came to the surface because he thought he heard colleagues tell him to do so.
NOC had lived among dolphins and other white whales and had often been in the presence of humans.
The whale made human-like sounds for around four years until it reached the age of sexual maturity, Ridgway said.

Moray Firth sealife mystery

Tracks emerging from the Moray Firth spark a sealife mystery

Beach mystery: Lee and Kate Sansum discovered the tracks early on Tuesday morning.© stv

Markings on sandy Moray beach spark a mystery over what could have caused them - and what happened to the culprits.

Mystery surrounds three sets of tracks spotted on a Moray beach in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The tracks, first thought to have been created by turtles, were noted on Lossiemouth's east beach by Kate and Lee Sansum while out for an early morning walk along the sands.
Kate said: "There are three distinct sets of tracks coming up from the water almost to the dunes, each around several yards apart. They all appear to be going in one direction with no signs of return tracks and our guess was that they were caused by turtles.
"We have called the Scottish Dolphin Centre to ask if they were aware and while they had no recent reports they did say that turtles had been seen along the Moray Firth."
While it is rare for turtles to venture so far north, sightings of leatherback turtles have been reported along the Moray Firth with one said to be around 2.5metres long seen north of Hopeman in 2000.
If the tracks on the Lossie beach were in fact turtles, however, the mystery is where the reptiles went after making their way up the beach, with Kate having her own suspicions: "There were no human footprints on the beach when we first spotted the tracks except one set at the top where the tracks ended.
"It looked to us as if someone had perhaps lifted the turtles, or whatever caused the tracks, and removed them from the beach. We searched around the dunes but could find no signs at all, it is very strange but I suppose it will remain a mystery."
A more recent turtle sighting on the Moray Firth happened two years ago by crew members working on a survey ship. James Spencer from Nafferton in Yorkshire reported seeing a leatherback close to the Beatrice oil field.
He said: "It was floating around 200metres from the boat but even more remarkable is there were possibly two more further from the boat but we could not confirm that as we were busy working."
Mrs Sansum had informed Grampian Police of her concerns and they arranged for a wildlife expert to look at the tracks. As a result she received a call saying that it was felt they may have been caused by grey seals. She said: "I would be quite content to just accept that it was seals but that does not really explain why there are no tracks going in the other direction.
"I've seen tracks left by common grey seals, and they tend to leave a distinct groove in the sand and that was not present this time. I guess it will remain a mystery but I would like to know more and would ask people in the area to keep their eyes peeled for more of these tracks."

Octopus V Dolphin

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A dolphin caught in the process of eating an octopus in Jervis Bay. Picture: Greg Maloney, Dolphin Watch Cruises Source: Supplied

BEING the world's smartest mollusc wasn't enough to save this octopus from the jaws of a dolphin.

The mature bottlenose dolphin found its brainy but unlucky lunch while hunting in reefs near Huskisson on Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast.
"We'd been watching a group of between 20 and 30 dolphins when this one surfaced with the occy in its mouth,'' Dolphin Watch Cruises skipper Greg Maloney said.
"It was bashing it on the surface of the water for a good 10 minutes trying to stun the occy so it could start eating.
"Dolphins have great gripping teeth, but the teeth are not very good at tearing up their food so they need to stun the occy before starting to eat it or the occy can get away.
"Sometimes the octopus does win, and escape, but this one didn't.''
Octopus's large complex brains are seen as compensating for losing the hard shell that protects other mollusks like snails and clams.
It's just that dolphins are smarter. When Animal Planet listed the top ten smartest animals on the planet, dolphins were at Number 2 (behind chimps) and octopuses came in at Number 9.
Mr Maloney took the photo about two weeks ago and said dolphins were a common sight in and around Jervis Bay.

CETACEAN ACOUSTICS: HOW TO DO WHALES AND WAVELETS

CETACEAN ACOUSTICS: HOW TO DO WHALES AND WAVELETS
Mark Fischer
If you want to know the science, you kind of need to begin with basic Calculus and introductory physics, especially the physics of waves. For a good online introduction to acoustics in the ocean, check out Acoustic Ecology's page here.
Second, to explore the world of cetacean sound, it helps to understand the physics of sound in the ocean. There are significant differences between sound in the ocean and the sounds we hear in the air. For example, the ocean conducts sound at 5 times the speed it travels in air, and has a beautiful 'lensing' property that is a function of depth and temperature [specifically, sound travels faster at the top and bottom of the ocean, slower in the middle], thus creating what is known as the 'deep sound channel'. To study up on these things I would recommend "Marine Mammals and Noise" as a good place to start. From ATOC and HIFT (also described in MM&N) we know that a sound as loud as a Blue whalewww.whalesongart.com makes can span half the world's oceans, which means two (well, probably three as noisy as the oceans are today ) whales could send a signal around the globe in just over 7 hours. Like, you know, if they wanted to.
Third, you have to consider the science of wavelets. My best recommendation for a place to start is Ms. Amara Graps' page, here.
To actually perform the analysis you need to know a little programming. This could be done in C/C++, or you could use a variety of mathematical software tools, such as Mathematica or Matlab.
So, what we do is to take a sound clip, transform it using wavelets, then display the product of this operation using some algorithm that maps the resulting matrix to a range of colors to make a kind of 'paint by numbers' picture; exactly as children would fill in a coloring book. What you are seeing is a picture of how well a particular sound correlates to a particular base function- that is, how much one shape looks like another. That's kind of all there is to it.

Mark Fischer (USA) is a cetacean acoustics specialist. 1961 born, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1979-1983 US Army, stationed in Amberg, Germany;
1983-1987 Earned BS in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University
1988-1998 Software development in defense and telecommunications
1999-2002 Walkabout, Baja California
Since then - independent research in cetacean acoustics using wavelets, exploring both the science and the art of the way they use sound.
http://aguasonic.com

South Korea announces plans to hunt minke whales

Jul 5, 2012

South Korea has announced plans to begin hunting minke whales for scientific purposes at the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
WSPA, along with governments from around the world, condemned the announcement.
Claire Bass, Oceans Campaign Leader for WSPA said: “This is extremely bad news. We believe there's absolutely no need to kill whales in the name of science and that all we need to find out about whales can be done using non lethal means. This is a big step backwards for the IWC that another country has decided to start doing this wholly unnecessary and cruel practice.”
WSPA has been at the forefront of efforts to promote the protection of whales from the cruel, unnecessary and outdated practice of hunting.

A step backwards

This bad news follows the recent announcement that a move to create a South Atlantic whale sanctuary had been rejected by the IWC.
Despite 65% of member countries voting in favour of creating a sanctuary, the move needed the backing of 75% of members in order to pass. The sanctuary was put forward by a group of Latin American countries, but was strongly opposed by pro-whaling nations including Japan and Norway.
Currently there are two whale sanctuaries created under the IWC: the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Japan disregards the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and conducts a so-called ‘scientific’ whale hunt there, with the meat sold commercially.
Claire Bass added: “The opposition to this sanctuary from three commercial whaling countries and their allies is outrageous and unjustified. The rejection of the proposal for this sanctuary denies protection for the 54 species of cetaceans in this region.”
WSPA will continue to report back from its work at this year’s IWC meeting in Panama City.

Antigua To Support Japanese Whaling Again

photo - indosurflife.com

Antigua St John's - Antigua and Barbuda will again be voting in favor of what has become known as the most controversial form of slaughter and animal cruelty of the century – whaling. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has signaled his administration’s intention to again support Japan’s bid to continue the killing of cetaceans as part of its approach to marine preservation.



And according to reports from the online medium ‘Examiner’, Antigua & Barbuda may have been a part of an alleged bribery operation undertaken by the Japanese government to gain the support of small nations that find it rewarding to favor of Japanese whaling.

“The Japanese government is allegedly bribing small countries like the Solomon Islands and Antigua & Barbuda to vote against the proposal,” says an article by Phil Kline, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.

To counter the alleged bribery, Greenpeace had begun an email fundraising drive of its own within the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The group accuses Japan of bribing small countries to vote against the interests of the whales and against their vision of the broader environmental benefits of whale protection.

Prime Minister Spencer has reportedly said that the move to support Japan is part of his government’s belief that such action does not affect marine life and is subject to change based on the government’s perception of its impact on marine activity.

His comments come as yet another slap in the face for sister OECS nation Dominica, which markets its tourism product on the shoulders of whale watching and natural preservation.

Local environmentalist Eli Fuller says Antigua is supporting the move because it is being allegedly bribed to do so; plain and simple. He told Caribarena that the country has no business supporting Japan to kill whales, since the country is not given any assistance to protect any marine life in any way, especially by Japan.

Fuller noted that when he heard that the minister responsible for marine resources talking about “sustainable use” and saying that whaling is “sustainable use”, his reaction was: “They were given blood money. There is zero evidence of any initiative for sustainable use of our marine resources. It’s very hypocritical for them to be talking about sustainable use when none of the money given from Japan is put towards sustaining our marine resources,” he said.

Over the years, there have been several attempts by conservationists locally to persuade the government to vote differently, but these have all gone unheeded.

Fuller suggested that if the government is so bent on taking the Japanese money, it should at least use it to build the local fisheries industry and allow the Japanese government to assist in the supply of the relevant resources to help manage the industry.

According to the Antigua and Barbuda Independent Tourism Promotion Corporation’s Martha Gilkes, her organization has taken a formal stance against whaling for years and continues to do so today.

“ABITPC still takes a stance that Antigua should not be voting pro-whaling for a number of reasons including that it is very bad for tourism,” Gilkes said, adding that several anti-Antigua forums were found online because of the nation’s stance.

She too, questioned the use of the Japanese funding received over the years for fisheries enhancement.

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Japan's appetite for whale meat wanes

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Fried whale meat at a restaurant in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters

Read by 583 people

Thursday 14 June 2012

Three-quarters of the meat from whales caught last summer was unsold, report reveals

Japan's failing appetite for whale meat left three-quarters of meat from whales caught in the north-west Pacific last summer unsold, according to a report.
Junko Sakuma, a freelance journalist, said the body responsible for selling meat from Japan's controversial "scientific" whaling programme had failed to sell 908 tonnes of the 1,211-tonne catch, despite holding 13 public auctions since last October.
The report, published on the website of the Tokyo-based Dolphin and Whale Action Network, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, a quasi-governmental body that oversees the hunts, had hoped to use sales from the meat to cover the costs of the whaling fleet's expeditions.
The failure of the auctions to pique consumer interest in meat from minke, Bryde's and sei whales has forced the institute to revert to private sales through Kyodo Senpaku, the for-profit firm that collects, processes and sells the meat on behalf of the institute.
Sakuma said the oversupply of whale meat, despite pockets of demand for the highest quality produce, had made Japan's lethal research programme unsustainable.
The Institute of Cetacean Research blamed low demand on the complicated auction procedure and reluctance among food suppliers to attract criticism from anti-whaling groups such as Sea Shepherd.
"We could not achieve the results we had anticipated," an institute official told Kyodo.
Although the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, Japan is allowed to conduct so-called "scientific" hunts in the north-west Pacific and the Antarctic. The IWC stipulates the meat must be processed and sold on the open market.
But campaigns to revive the tradition of eating whale meat – which was largely confined to a few coastal towns – have failed to capture the public's imagination.
A 2006 survey by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% of Japanese people never or rarely eat whale meat. Consumption of whale meat rose after the second world war as it provided a much-needed source of protein.
Sakuma's report will come as another blow to Japan's beleaguered whaling industry.
Campaigners claimed a major victory when the Antarctic whaling fleet returned to port in March with just 30% of its planned catch of more than 900 whales. The fisheries agency blamed the poor catch on bad weather and "sabotage" by Sea Shepherd.
Late last year, it was revealed the government used 2.28bn yen (£18.5m) from the 11 March earthquake recovery fund, on top of its existing $6m (£3.87m) annual subsidy, to pay for the most recent Antarctic hunt.
The fisheries agency said the use of the fund was justified because one of the towns destroyed by the tsunami was a whaling port.