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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: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday June 22 2020, @05:14AM

    Maybe it's that I've used too many good weedeaters but I just can't think of battery operated ones anything but toys. Yeah, technically you could trim up around a small lawn if you always got to it right away. I gave one a go here in TN when we first arrived though and had to stop and charge in the middle at least once every time I used it. There's a lot to be said for having to take a break in the middle of sweaty work but I'd rather just get it done and take a four day break instead. Plus that mickey-mouse piece of crap wouldn't cut anything but grass worth a damn. Ask it to take down a weed bigger around than your thumb in a place you don't ordinarily mow and you'd be there sawing on it for way too long.

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