Question

Whales communicate with one another using sound. What are the benefits of using sound to communicate underwater? What are the costs?

Answer 1

Sound is the most effective way to communicate across a vast expanse of ocean – travelling at a speed of five times greater under water than in the air - so it’s not surprising then to discover that Blue Whales have evolved the ability to communicate with sound across the water.

Tests and studies have shown that all whale species use sound for a number of different purposes: to navigate, to detect food, and to communicate with one another over long distances. Despite the breakthroughs in determining the role of sound in whale activities, much about the Blue Whale sounds remains something of a biological mystery.

Blue Whales are relatively solitary animals, usually found alone, or in pairs of mother and calf or two adults, but even then they sometimes swim several kilometres apart.

Due to their solitary lifestyles, Blue Whales have evolved an exceptional way of speaking to one another across huge distances. As you would expect from the largest animal on the planet, Blue Whales have exceptionally deep voices and are able to be vocal at frequencies as low as 14 Hz - well below the ability of human hearing - with a volume greater than 180 decibels, which makes the Blue Whale the loudest animal on the planet.

The sounds they make that humans can hear are characterised by low grunts, humming, moans and clicks. The deep vibrations and sounds created by a Blue Whale can travel thousands of miles across the sea and may have evolved to take advantage of the ocean's sound channel.

ECHOLOCATION

Echolocation is an extremely important tool in the toothed whales survival as it allows these marine mammals to navigate the ocean at night, locate potential prey and identify threats in the area using sound.

Echolocation is a biological sonar that whales use to determine their distance to nearby objects.