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posted by martyb on Sunday June 21 2020, @02:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the whisper-me-Ishmael dept.

Whales are disturbed by engine noise from boats:

To get their patrons the best possible view, whale watching companies and the captains of their ships tend to position vessels as close as they can.

[...] "Unlike humans, the dominant sense in whales is not sight -- it is hearing," Australian biologist Kate R. Sprogis, research fellow at Aarhus University in Denmark, said in a news release. "As such, a whale may not be able to see a whale-watch boat at 100 meter distance, but they are likely to hear it, so it makes sense to consider this when stipulating whale-watching guidelines."

Using underwater speakers and drone cameras, scientists tested the effects of different decibel levels on the behavior of humpback whales in the Exmouth Gulf, located off the western coast of Australia.

[...] When researchers subjected mothers and calves to boat-noise levels of 172 decibels, a very loud boat, from a distance of 100 meters, the mothers and calves spent 30 percent less time resting, swam at faster speeds and doubled their breathing rates.

When the boats moved further away, disturbed whales usually returned to resting. However, previous studies suggest repeated disturbances can leave moms without the energy to feed their calves and evade predators.

Journal Reference:
Kate R Sprogis, Simone Videsen, Peter T Madsen. Vessel noise levels drive behavioural responses of humpback whales with implications for whale-watching, (DOI: 10.7554/eLife.56760)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @02:48PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @02:48PM (#1010655)

    Brilliant research. Who woulda thought a wild animal is upset with a large thumping noise.
    Must be Canada again.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @03:50PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @03:50PM (#1010678)

    Well, apparently my downstairs neighbor doesn't get that - playing loud obnoxious music at all hours shaking the floor also with loud, rowdy, probably drugged up fiends, likely with some fucking going on too. Well, I can shake the building too by jumping my whale ass up and down while screaming 'shut the fuck up!'.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:32PM (#1010692)

      Practice clogging and/or bagpipes.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:39PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2020, @04:39PM (#1010695)

      Just be thankful you don't live next door to a single mom that looks like mrs piggy, and your bedroom shares a wall with yours, and you have to listen to her having sex with the plumber. There was a strange squeeking noise I've never heard before while having sex.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 21 2020, @09:15PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2020, @09:15PM (#1010801) Journal

    Yeah - you nailed it. But, you failed to spell out that whales depend on their hearing for communications over miles and miles of ocean. Aside from communications with their own species, they certainly listen for the sounds their prey makes, as well as the sounds that potential predators make. And, I haven't even touched on navigation by sonar.

    Whales get as screwed up by our weird noises as owls, or bats. They NEED to hear, or they die.

  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Monday June 22 2020, @02:32AM

    by driverless (4770) on Monday June 22 2020, @02:32AM (#1010901)

    It's not just whales, all swimmers are upset by loud boats nearby.

    Also, it's not polite to call them whales, call them BBWs.