Songs of Rare Antarctic Blue Whale can be detected 750 Kilometers Away

Scientists were able to detect the songs of the uncommon Antarctic blue whale about 750 kilometers away. It has been told that Antarctic marine scientists have been listening the world's largest creatures.

The scientists used directional sonobuoys so that they can hear the low rumbling songs to guide their ship to the whales in the icy Southern Ocean. According to Australian Antarctic Division Voyage Science Leader, Mike Double, they travelled a large distance without sighting any whales, so they staggered in order to watch more than 80 of the uncommon whales in a comparatively small area.

Double said that with a patchy distribution it is only feasible to study this endangered species efficiently with the help of the acoustic technology that developed by the Australian Antarctic Division. The scientists were able to identify 58 individual blue whales at the time of their six-week Australia-New Zealand Antarctic Ecosystem Voyage to the Southern Ocean. They were investigating the region's top predators.

The information is going to help to estimate the population size, rate of recovery and movements of the endangered creatures. Over 40,000 calls over 520 hours have been recorded by the scientists. With the help of echosounders, they mapped, characterized and monitored the krill in the vicinity of the blue whale. It was found that the swarms were denser as compared those found anywhere else. These findings have provided the scientists new insight into the life of a whale. Double also said that their capability to find these whales and the multidisciplinary nature of the voyage also enabled them to examine habitat of the whales.

"At times we were almost surrounded by huge, tall blows from these whales breathing. It was truly spectacular", said Double.