Have you read the story of the “supposed” lonely whale? It was originally printed by the New York Times in 2004. In summary, it’s about a baleen whale (its call identified in 2000) that has been tracked by the NOAA since 1992 after its calls were picked up in 1989. Apparently, since his calls are registered at a higher level frequency, 52 Hz (the lowest note on a tuba) and much higher than other whales, they say he has not been able to find a mate.You can listen to his call here, click on the 241k file. Every year only the mating calls of this mighty stag are recorded at that frequency. It’s also been suggested that whales call out in song for kinship. Furthermore, he does not follow the proverbial migration route of other baleen whales, so he is the only pea in his pod... Why is this? Some scientist believe the whale “might possibly be a hybrid of two whales, but do not speculate upon which species of whale could have got together to produce an animal with calls at a frequency so monumentally dissimilar to other baleen whales” or deformed in some manner or possible the last of an unknown species. “to be classed as a new animal, even if the whale popped out of the water on camera during a live broadcast and posed for photos, unless there was a body, that evidence, would for some scientists, still carry only the same weight as one of their kid’s crayon pictures” said Oll Lewis. The Woods Hole scientists are unable to explain the dramatic difference, but say the chance of it being a new species is unlikely, that the vocal range of the known species might be wider than previously suggested. The Woods Hole scientists were able to track the migratory pattern of the whale over several years, but this was only after the sounds had been declassified and released to them. It’s not probable we would ever know what the whale looks like or even if it is even still alive. The latest article written was 2011. However, baleen whales were presumed to live 50–60 years, but new studies using the changes in amino acids behind eye lenses proved another baleen whale, the bowhead, to be 211 years old. Baleen whales are known to be solitary or travel in small pods. Some believe that the male baleen whales try to show off in the presence of females to increase their mating success in conjunction with song. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating. There are many theories.
Dr. Kate Stafford, a researcher at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, says that the lonely whale keeps saying “Hey, I'm out here” but "nobody is phoning home." Only one set of calls are heard at a time, revealing that the sounds are made by an individual. Do they know for sure that he’s not a “baby daddy”? Maybe he said wham, bam, thank you ma’am and he retreated to his life on the lam. This is where the animal world is not comparable to us. In the animal kingdom, animals are more apt to stick with what works as far as natural selection, it’s too dangerous for them to hedge their bets the way people can…nature is just too risky. There have been studies done that prove (as much as possible) that animals in the wild do not suffer depression of that of humans, exhibit suicidal behavior, die from loneliness, have eating disorders and other psychopathic behaviors unless a cognitive disability, emotional impairment or distress is present. The exception of course is with confinement, human involvement, farms and laboratories. It can be difficult to attribute human afflictions to non- human animals. “Behavioral Disorders are difficult to study in animals because it is difficult to know what animals are thinking and because animals used to determine psychopathologies are done so with experimental preparations developed to study a condition, lacking the ability to use language to study behavioral disorders like depression and stress questions the validity of those studies conducted”. I’m surprised that this amount of time has gone by without being able to find the whale, however I understand the difficulty in locating him and the manpower it would take. It’s difficult for me to imagine that two whales of different species would mate, but not two of the same species because one has a different tone “voice”. If the whale was depressed , lonely and seeking a mate without any success, assuming he had the emotions to the magnitude a human would, would he also exhibit the same behavior a human would in that plight, meaning, would he still try? “Low mood increases an organism's ability to cope with the adaptive challenges characteristic of unpropitious situations in which effort to pursue a major goal will likely result in danger, loss, bodily damage, or wasted effort." Why bother if it’s not going to be possible? Maybe he’s the Sir Francis Drake, Cpt. James Cook, or the Magellan of whales exploring the deep blue. This could be the George Clooney of whales.
I’m a fan of paradoxes and it was said in one article, adapted in my words, that the whale too considerable to amour or befriend other sea souls that it crosses, making him feel so paradoxically slight in the expansiveness of the ocean. I just have a feeling; inkling that that is just is not the case. I don’t imagine the whale moping around the ocean for years debating whether or not to come up for air. “That he would do anything for just one hug”... Maybe it’s not a whale at all, maybe it’s an alien, maybe it’s the military…maybe it’s a lonely person pulling a prank on the marine scholars.What’s more interesting to me is not the articles but how the articles are written and the people that respond so empathetically to it. The original story was extracted from a December issue of Deep Sea Research, but it has been spun into a tale, in which the moral is very pronounced. Someone who themselves is a sentimentalist, a hopeless romantic, or lonely at times or even feeling out casted to an ambit, can appreciate why every article and blog I peruse about the 52 Hz whale insists that this whale is sad, depressed, lonely, looking for love, looking for friends, looking to belong.; it’s possible people are projecting onto the whale, or conceptualizing the whale to posses human cognition and emotions. Relating him to a time in life when they’ve felt this way or someone they’ve known to feel that way or just knowing that people in general perpetually feel that way. There is an abundance of people that live life in solidarity and are perfectly stable and content, taking each day as it is, just happy to have a heartbeat. This whale is probably content just being alive and not having a harpoon up its ass. That’s the lesson in this. Who knows what little whale adventures he has every day. The substantial and essential difference regarding people is, even thought we may differ to breadths and scopes where we are ousted for not meeting certain societal guidelines and standards, our communication being atrocious from time to time or chronically, we have evolved to be so many versions of each other, manifested into many incarnations of what it is to be human. That's the beautiful quality about us, no matter our differences. We have so many divergent ways of expression and communication, individual styles of leading our lives, methods of attaining our fundamental needs, many ways we interpret and many ways of relating, many ways of learning and many ways of believing, many ways of thinking and many ways of speaking. At times contrasting, but still alike and kindred enough that we manage to find someone to accept us, understand us, relate to us, listen to us, talk to us, take care of us, be with us, love us…and hear our call.
“I saw it all, I knew it all-the million years of waiting alone, for someone to come back who never came back. The million years of isolation at the bottom of the sea, the insanity of time there, while the skies cleared of reptile-birds, the swamps fried on the continental lands, the sloths and sabre-tooths had their day and sank in tar pits, and men ran like white ants upon the hills.”-Ray Bradbury 1951 The Foghorn
No comments:
Post a Comment