Weddell Sea: Whale Song Reveals Behavioral Patterns
Published:07 Jan.2021 Source:Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Until recently, what we knew about the lives of baleen whales in the Southern Ocean was chiefly based on research conducted during the Antarctic summer. The reason: in the winter, there were virtually no biologists on site to watch for the animals. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have now used permanently installed underwater microphones, which have been recording for the past nine years, to successfully gather and analyse whale observation data from the Weddell Sea.
The audio recordings offer unique insights into the lives of humpback whales and Antarctic minke whales. They show e.g. that there are most likely two humpback whale populations in the Weddell Sea, both of which avoid the sea ice and call or sing most frequently in the autumn. In contrast, Antarctic minke whales primarily live in ice-covered regions and produce their characteristic quacking sounds in the winter, as the researchers report in two studies recently published in the online journal Royal Society Open Science. Their goal: for the new findings to help improve protective measures for these baleen whales and their main food source, the Antarctic krill.