
52-hertz whale - iso-8859-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52-hertz_whale
======
nchelluri
Somehow this reminded me of the old `sound()` help file from Borland C++ 3.1.
I think it was in dos.h.

[http://everything2.com/title/7+hertz+-+the+resonant+frequenc...](http://everything2.com/title/7+hertz+-+the+resonant+frequency+of+a+chicken%2527s+skull)

    
    
      /* Emits a 7-Hz tone for 10 seconds.
    
            True story: 7 Hz is the resonant
            frequency of a chicken's skull cavity.
            This was determined empirically in
            Australia, where a new factory
            generating 7-Hz tones was located too
            close to a chicken ranch: When the
            factory started up, all the chickens
            died.
    
            Your PC may not be able to emit a 7-Hz tone. */

~~~
pantalaimon
Why would there be a factory for 7Hz tones?

~~~
userbinator
Large equipment like fans could generate such frequencies. As they've been
linked to ghost sightings in humans, I wouldn't be surprised if chickens got
spooked by a similar effect:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Suggested_relations...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Suggested_relationship_to_ghost_sightings)

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kps
Since I was curious, I took the recording from Wikipedia, which is sped up
10×, and slowed it down 10×:
[http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dMCeANPrbX](http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dMCeANPrbX) (No
affiliation, just the first no-reg audio host I found.)

Edit: you may need to turn up your volume. Much of it (including the first ten
seconds) is pretty quiet.

Edit²: I confirm hearing nothing at all using a laptop's built-in speakers;
you'll need headphones or external audio.

~~~
s0rce
Interesting, except on my macbook I can't hear anything. I wonder what the low
frequency cutoff is.

~~~
iamcreasy
Increase the volume. It's very low pitch track.

~~~
to3m
With the volume at maximum on my 2015 MBP I get sound... of some description,
at least. It just doesn't sound much like it does through headphones. It
sounds like speakers trying to reproduce something that's beyond them ;)

~~~
Symbiote
My computer is connected to an average HiFi and speakers (£300 / $500 worth)
with an on-board soundcard. I didn't need to adjust the volume to hear the
whale.

It reminds me most of waiting on the platform of a very deep metro line, and
hearing the rumbling of a different metro train, some way above.

That, or the (apparently reasonably authentic) sounds played in a Sea Life
centre.

~~~
to3m
The MBP's sound hardware might not have a problem with it, but I was using the
MBP's built in speakers ;)

They're generally pretty good on the newer models, I think, as laptop speakers
go. My 3-word review might be "better than functional". So having heard them
make a tolerable go of music and games I was interested to see how they'd
manage 52Hz. The answer: badly.

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brokencog
But, why presume it's lonely? Maybe it can also "chat" on the normal "whale
channel" and it's conducting a SETI experiment on it's own via 52hz?

so much ethno- ego- centric decision making around animals ...

~~~
raverbashing
Or maybe it has had a wound or a disease that caused a frequency shift in the
sound? (just a quick speculation)

~~~
nacs
The article mentions that the whale may be deaf.

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gaur
> They speculate that it could be malformed, or a hybrid of a blue whale and
> another species.

Are there whale species that have calls significantly higher than 50 Hz? Any
ungulate experts here who can comment?

~~~
matteisn
Orcas in the form of clicking sounds and humpback whales, who can sing in
ranges as high as 8000Hz.

However, these calls are produced via an entirely different vocalization
method.

~~~
sandworm101
Orca are not whales. Technically, they are really big dolphins. They are in
the delphinidae family (dolphins) which explains why they look/act/sound/move
so differently than other "whales".

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rosser
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale)

See, specifically, the sub-heading on _Odontocetes_ — literally, "toothed
whale".

You appear to be operating with the category that "whale" is wholly and
exhaustively synonymous with "baleen whale". You're wrong.

~~~
sandworm101
From the same wikipedia article...

"They [whales] are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually
excluding dolphins and porpoises. "

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tilt_error
I see the map of this whale's migration pattern goes north and south along the
north american coast. Is it following an alternating current?

~~~
jldugger
If you mean the alternating directions of the Kremlin, maybe.

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nommm-nommm
I read the citation given in the wiki but I can't figure out why exactly deaf
people may think this whale may be deaf. It is not clear to me.

~~~
knughit
Because it vocalizes at an nonstandard pitch for its species, like deaf humans
do.

And because it appears to be unable/unwilling to live in a pod with other
whales, perhaps due to its inability to communicate with them vocally.

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whalesalad
The worlds loneliest whale. How fascinating and sad!

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userbinator
I wonder if it's really a whale, or some sort of man-made source (possibly a
classified military technology) that coincidentally happens to be particularly
whale-like?

~~~
ars
I thought of that, but if I were making some secret military sound I would try
very hard to blend in exactly like other whales, not do something unique and
identifiable.

~~~
marcosdumay
But this is 52Hz, just around the 50Hz that a big part of the world uses as
electrical standard. Some hidden generator somewhere could cause it.

I guess the hardest part to explain (in an artificial source) is how it
migrates all the time, not the pitch.

~~~
knughit
Unlikely that broken electricity generator would be as loud as a whale, and
survive 30years without repair.

Also, would someone choose to generate AC in a marine application?

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thebouv
Maybe it's trying to find The Bloop.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop)

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emmelaich
My half-arsed guesses (apart from the ones given) 1\. birth defect affecting
the 'vocal' cords 2\. autistic or similar 3\. dwarfism

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adt2bt
If we can track it, is it possible to locate the whale and observe it?

~~~
digi_owl
I suspect the researchers would love to, but that would mean expenses
regarding ship, crew, and all that comes along.

Try getting that past management when all you got is a weird plot on a
spectrogram.

~~~
spoiler
This is a project I wouldn't mind backing on kick starter! Have there been any
successfully crowd-funded documentaries with a big budget at all? A quick
google search didn't reveal much, all the ones I saw were relatively low
budget.

~~~
dazmax
Mentioned in the article:
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lonelywhale/help-us-
fin...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lonelywhale/help-us-find-lonely-
whale)

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PepeGomez
It doesn't appear to be as monotonous as the tiny spectrogram suggests, it's a
sequence of subtly different tones:
[http://imgur.com/Z7S9Chq](http://imgur.com/Z7S9Chq)

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intrasight
Just notice that when I clicked to comment there were "52 comments" \-
interesting coincidence.

Is locating the source that difficult? Don't we have tons of
listening/triangulating stuff out in the oceans now?

~~~
chillydawg
Whales roam the oceans. I expect in some deep devops cave in a military office
somewhere, they have a monitor showing the real time location of this whale
using their sub hunting tech for a laugh. I really hope that's true.

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brador
How hard is it to simply triangulate the signal and find the exact location of
origin?

~~~
Lanzaa
I think the issue is how quickly they identify the whales location. It seems
like they have been able to track the movement fairly well. I imagine it takes
a while to get a ship out to the identified location of the sound's origin, by
which time the source has probably moved on.

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nakodari
This reminds me of Moby Dick

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aroman
Reminds me of the plot of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home!

~~~
keirerish
Free Willy.

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remarkEon
Somehow this seems like the plot to the next Disney/Pixar film

