
52 Hertz: The Loneliest Whale in the World  - antimora
http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news/2012/05/52-hertz-the-loneliest-whale-in-the-world.html
======
jws
There is a paper on 52 Hertz from 2004 which is locked securely in Elsevier's
fortress, safe from inquisitive minds.

Fortunately the US Defense Technology Information Center has liberated a copy:
<http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a429410.pdf>

I wish NOAA had those recordings at real speed instead of sped up 10 times.
52Hz is well within human hearing, it's a G#, 4 frets up from the bottom of a
typical bass guitar. Typically the big whales are around the C that would be
past the left end of the piano and beyond human hearing.

From the paper, there is an interesting statement about the capability of the
Navy hydrophone systems:

 _The lack of calls before and after tracking periods appeared to be because
the whale was not producing calls, and not due to the lack of the ability of
the monitoring equipment to detect the sounds. As the tracks demonstrated, the
monitoring system was not limited geographically, and appeared to detect these
calls, usually on multiple arrays, whenever calls were produced in these deep-
water regions._

~~~
ComputerGuru
_I wish NOAA had those recordings at real speed instead of sped up 10 times._

Well, how high is the bitrate? If it's high enough, I suppose you can slow it
back down 10x without significant loss of quality...

~~~
prawks
[http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/whales/sounds/sound...](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/whales/sounds/sounds_52blue.html)

Looks like they give a 128kbps wav file. Not exactly audiophile quality
unfortunately.

~~~
elektronaut
The sample rate is 8kHz, which means the Nyquist frequency is 4kHz. Slowing it
back down won't sound good, but frequencies below 400hz will be present.

Here's a 8kHz .wav slowed down to 1/10:
<http://dump.elektronaut.no/post/ak52_1x.wav>

edit: You probably need a subwoofer or a decent pair of headphones to
appreciate the rumble.

~~~
abailin
Awesome, this deep rumble is oddly soothing in my MDR-7506s.

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paraschopra
It's fascinating! Though it's interesting to debate if we should apply humanly
qualities such as loneliness to whales (or even other creatures). Does this
whale really _feel_ lonely (like we do)? Or is it just doing what its genetic
program tells it to do? I don't recall where exactly I read, but I had read
that the contribution of language is significant as far as human consciousness
and feelings are concerned. It mentioned that animals have signals as a form
of communication (show a ball, and dog would come over) but humans have signs.
The whole conscious world is composed of signs for us and that is what makes
us unique. It had further mentioned that even in aboriginal people who don't
know much about modern cosmology, they still have a theory of some sort to
signify the origin of world. Animals simply lack that kind of framework and
therefore behave according to their genetic program or trainings.

Yes, the field was called semiotics and I recall reading about how a wandering
bee doesn't give a damn to humans dancing and celebrating nearby.

~~~
Udo
Attributing feelings to animals can be appropriate, depending on the animal
and the circumstances. I find it a little worrisome that you equate individual
bees (which by all measures are little more than automatons) with a complex
and intelligent animal such as a whale. (Recognizable) emotions are not
something humans have a monopoly on, quite the contrary.

Most whales are social animals, and they're also pretty advanced mammals, so
it's not unreasonable to assume that an individual might experience feelings
of loneliness and abandonment given the fact that it's apparently the only one
of its kind out there.

~~~
paraschopra
My main criterion of putting bees and whales in the same category was mainly
the use of signals for communication, whereas humans use signs. I'm not very
well read in this area but just brought this up because it's an interesting
way to look at communication.

~~~
Udo
I guess the main point was whether we can assume animals are capable of having
recognizable emotions or if we're simply engaging in an act of
anthropomorphization, right? The problem was not deciding whether or not the
song of this specific individual is intended to communicate loneliness
(because that's impossible to know), it was about whether we can assume he/she
is actually feeling lonely or not independent of whatever data is transmitted.
And I contend that we can.

But we can just as well talk about language itself; it's a completely
different discussion to have, though. Everybody and everything uses signals,
and they are in a way always symbols for something. Bacteria do this in very
much the same way bees do. Whales and humans do it as well. The difference
here is that animals with higher cognitive abilities tend to do more powerful
things with signals. Bees and bacteria use a genetically prescribed protocol
to communicate according to completely hard-coded behavior. Towards the other
end of the spectrum, as animals get more powerful at cognition, both internal
state and communication protocols become more dynamic with humans being the
apex as the ones who are most capable of formulating abstract concepts. But
it's also worth noting that humans laugh and cry, these are examples of very
simple signals still emitted by very complex minds.

So is whale song more like an advanced mammalian language, or is it more like
a human laughing? We don't know (yet). But we _can_ make certain assumptions
about this single individual's mental state without understanding its
language. Imagine the last human on earth, wandering around. We can assume
he's lonely, whether he's actually crying or not.

------
aarghh
Brought Ray Bradbury's "The Foghorn" to mind -
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_Horn>

~~~
wtrk
Indeed. AFAICT from the linked post, there's no proof (e.g. visual sighting of
a whale at any of the locations from which the sounds have emanated) that the
source of the sounds is even a whale at all.

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Zenst
The link to a normal Whale sound is the same link as this chap at 52 Hertz.

I do find his path tracks interesting and they do seem to have a central point
and do wonder what is of note there, food!

Supprised no DNA samples have been taken, though I suspect we can't eliminate
some form of polution inducing a genetic mutation. We have humans with high-
pitched voices so anything is possible.

But fair play to the chap in carrying on trying to find a mate in over 20
years, now that is tenacity.

~~~
tathagata
Yes, the tracks are interesting. Note how the whale often tracks back and then
takes a different route as if he/she was unsure about the route (something we
often do on new/unexplored forest trails so that we don't get lost). The sharp
turns might therefore be some sort of a landmark for the whale.

~~~
Evbn
The sharp turns are poorly interpolated data points from a small data set.

~~~
Zenst
Very good point. Datasets on maps realy should have the ability to see the
resolution of the dataset or a zoomable timeline so people can see how the
data plots on a map and its potentual variations. This would avoid seeing data
from a limited viewpoint. Only good example of how having mulple viewpoints of
the same data would be a picture of lighnight that appears to loop, lightnight
travels in 3d and if viewed from some angles will appear from a 2d perspective
to loop up and around back onto itself. It is a illution based upon a limited
viewpoint of the data and in the case of the data plots without the
samplerling period (which could be week or day apart) and how far a this whale
can swim in that time to allow for a better perspective of the plotted data.

In short, I concur, whales don't do handbrake turns and the data is a literal
plot of data points from course samplerling.

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nhebb
Another mystery appears. I wonder what happened in 1993-1994 to get his
migration path off by 90 degrees.

[http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewImage.do?id=10079&aid=47...](http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewImage.do?id=10079&aid=4721)

~~~
antimora
Probably due to missing data points. It may seem that the line is straight but
it's possible the whale traveled circular.

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brazzy
This has given me a sad.

Strange though that there aren't any attempts mentioned to actually get close
and have a look at such an unusual specimen.

~~~
gnarbarian
Maybe someone should build him a translator.

~~~
oceanic
Someone give this whale a Babelfish!

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lifeisstillgood
That's it - for me the sound of one hand clapping now will always be heard at
52 Hz.

That's made my day. :-)

Hope Mr 52 Hertz Finds Mrs 52 Hertz soon. Cheers

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sageikosa
Evolution in action? For natural selection to work some critters have to end
up on the losing team.

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y4m4
Loneliness probably has a new meaning! - 52hz and 2 decades on - a whale
trying to communicate has been so lonely in the vastness of sea. It is truly
invigorating and unimaginable .. Their 10million years of evolution far
greater than the Man himself must be a remarkable insight towards our own
evolution. Reading this story i kind of feel moved and touched at a much
deeper psychological level than ever ...

~~~
jmmcd
_Their 10million years of evolution far greater than the Man himself_

Nah. We've all had exactly the same length of evolution.

~~~
y4m4
We have had 3.5 - 4 million years. Whales evolved from mammals which went back
into 'sea' .

~~~
jmmcd
I don't know about you, but my ancestors have been evolving for a lot longer
than 4 million years.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_descent>

~~~
y4m4
if you think Proteins are your common ancestor Yes, btw you don't have to know
me to know 'what is correct' :-)

~~~
jmmcd
I think we have common ancestors with whales a lot more recently than
proteins. It doesn't matter: we _have_ common ancestors with them, therefore
we've been evolving the same length of time.

> btw you don't have to know me

This is the internet, where no-one knows if you're a non-DNA based lifeform --
as your first comment seemed to suggest.

------
pohl
It would be interesting to fit her with a prosthesis that dynamically adjusts
the frequencey and rebroadcasts the song in the normal range.

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LonelyWhale
Hey guys! We've been reading all your comments on this board about the 52
Hertz Whale and have been loving them! I too connected to this very special
story, which is why I am currently working on a documentary that will
physically search for 52, while exploring people's reactions. We are in
production of this major documentary about the 52 Hertz Whale and would love
for you to visit our Facebook page to sign up for our mailing list and learn
more. Not only is the documentary about the whale, but it's about you folks
who relate to this amazing story, and why we all do. Please 'like' us at:
www.facebook.com/finding.52

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yogrish
Other mysterious sounds: [http://weburbanist.com/2010/06/07/signal-or-
noise-8-mysterio...](http://weburbanist.com/2010/06/07/signal-or-
noise-8-mysterious-unsolved-sounds/)

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eck
Let's be clear. This guy operates at 52Hz, but he probably has more spatial
resolution than cobra dane.

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DanielRibeiro
The Whale's sound:
[http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/whales/sounds/whale...](http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/whales/sounds/whalewav/ak52_10x.wav)

~~~
cduser
That doesn't sound like a very good song

~~~
peterwwillis
It's just one sample. Mix it with others and you have a new Aphex Twin album.

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INTPenis
Wow that's sad, aside from casual flings I've been living alone 7 years longer
than this whale has been known to.

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dogan
maybe he just want to be left alone

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kahawe
I can understand that his migration routes are away from most other whales but
one thing that keeps coming up, especially in the linked articles:

> _And here's the cry of the lonely 52-Hertz whale, which no other whale can
> return -- as if whale songs weren't mournful enough._

Does anyone know whether this is true? Other whales could not hear/understand
him even IF they were close-by because of the higher frequency? And he could
not hear other whales either?? Both of these seem very unlikely to me,
especially the second one, but I am no expert. I am just assuming if his
signature is that of a baleen whale just at a higher frequency, wouldn't
others still recognize that IF they were close?

If anything, following the human interpretation of this as the "poor lonely-
heart whale", he just has to get out of his comfort zone and explore the
waters more... this too "could be viewed as inspiration to anyone with a
lonely heart"!

~~~
hcrisp
I take it that no other whale can hear him, but he can hear them. He's
effectively mute (to them). However, loss of one sense is often compensated
for by acuteness in other senses. If he can hear them, he can find them. Might
he not have other ways of communicating? Whale sign language when near, or
voiceless noises when far away? I'm hopeful.

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beedogs
the last two sentences of that story made me want to strangle the author. :|

~~~
evincarofautumn
I agree he was laying it on a little thick, but at least the substance of the
article was interesting.

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TobbenTM
Gosh, what a hipster.

