Mysterious Whale-52 Hertz: the loneliest creature on our planet (6 photos)

All his life, this whale is doomed to endlessly wander the ocean and scream, scream, scream in the hope that at least someone will respond. But - alas! No one will ever understand 52 Hertz. He will not find friends, will not create a family and will not have children.







I speak pure whale! Why doesn't anyone understand me?!

Even though whales are not people, communication with their relatives is also important for them. And our unfortunate man is doomed to eternal loneliness. This is because this special beast sings at a frequency that other whales cannot understand.





I can not go on! Maybe at least on land someone will understand me?

52 hertz was discovered back during the Cold War, back in 1989. Instead of the sounds of Soviet submarines, secret American sensors detected a very strange sound. It was vaguely similar to the songs of blue whales and fin whales, but sounded completely different. Its frequency was significantly higher - as much as 52 Hertz, and its duration was longer than that of other sea giants. For comparison, blue whales sing at a frequency of 10 to 30 Hertz, fin whales - 20 Hertz. Then scientists did not pay due attention to the sound, because the sensor data was classified.



The language of whales is complex and important. The 52 Hertz whale is a unique exception to the rule that should not have survived.

A more detailed study of the unusual sound began in 2004. Studies of all the recordings showed that their performer was a whale. But which one of all the species of whales is still unknown. To this day, biologists record 52-Hz songs here and there in the ocean every year. But no one has ever seen the animal itself. The routes and timing of its migration indicate similarities with fin whales and blue whales at once, but there is no 100% hit with any of them.



High five if you feel lonely too.

How did 52 Hertz even come about? The question is open. Perhaps this is a mutant whale, capable of producing a sound much higher than that of its relatives, thanks to its special anatomy. Perhaps this is a hybrid of two different species, which is why their cub became an outcast. Or perhaps the whale is completely deaf. He simply doesn’t hear that he’s singing too loudly, so he can’t tune in to the right frequency.



Sorry, your whale is upset. How to fix it?

But perhaps 52 hertz is not as lonely as scientists previously thought. In 2010, sounds similar to the calls of the loneliest whale were discovered. But they were too far from his last location. This means that perhaps some other whale was singing at the same frequency! Let's keep our fingers crossed that the two giants meet and finally chat!