An international team of researchers discovered pieces of evidence about a previously undiscovered population of the world’s largest animal “Blue Whales” in the western Indian Ocean.
Scientists recorded acoustic signatures of the blue whale calls in the western Indian Ocean. All blue whales give a very-low pitched call and sing in a very recognizable pattern and each population has a unique song pattern. Researchers discovered a new blue whale song recorded in the Arabian Sea Coast of Oman across to the Chagos Archipelago in the Central Indian Ocean and as far south as Madagascar in the southwestern Indian Ocean, as described in the study published in Endangered Species Journal.
African Aquatic Conservation Fund’s Cetacean Programme Director and New England Aquarium visiting scientist Dr Salvatore Cerchio analyzed the recordings of the whale collected from three locations of western Indian Ocean. He confirmed that the recordings were of blue whale songs, which were never heard before.
(Photo credit: A Northwest Indian Ocean blue whale flukes up for a dive off the Arabian Sea coast of Oman. CREDIT: Robert Baldwin/Environment Society of Oman )
