Icelandic Saga: Return Of The Right Whale

The North Atlantic right whale, with only about 300-350 animals known to exist, used to inhabit the Cape Farewell Ground, which lies between southwest Iceland and Greenland. In the 1800s they were heavily hunted in this area and haven’t been seen much there since. Recently acoustic sensors stationed in this channel have discovered a return of right whales to their old territory. According to David Mellinger at the Oregon State University, the right whales were located and identified by their distinctive “up calls,” which are part of the animals’ extensive vocalization repertory. Owing to the low number of right whales, the return of the animals to a former whaling ground is an exciting discovery, says Mellinger.

The talk, Acoustical rediscovery of right whales in a former whaling area, the Cape Farewell Ground, between Greenland and Iceland (3aAB9), is at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20 at the 157th Acoustical Society of America Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

[Jason Bardi @ American Institute of Physics]