Trevor Branch, professor of aquatic and fishing devices at the University of Washington, reviewed more than 250 research documents last summer on whales and found that most of the bales that are more likely to flee from predators will sing at a base level enough to avoid heard by killer whales.

“I think it is astonishing to me is that you can have animals that produce some of the highest sounds in nature, and yet their predators cannot hear them,” he said.

“A choice you can hear for hundreds of kilometers away, and yet a killer whale could be right next to it and couldn’t hear it. They could hear, probably, the sound of blows, or the sound of them splashes, but as soon as you get beyond the range of it, it is as if they are completely acoustically invisible. Like ghosts in the water. “

The branch said that most killer whales have poor hearing below 1500 Hz and cannot hear at all below 100 Hz.

He found only 24 percent of flight species ringing over 1500 Hz, and generally very quiet, so they can not be heard longer than a kilometer away. Blue whales, for example, do not call over 100 Hz.

Branch said it makes sense that women who are part of a flight would be attracted to a man with a conversation that does not attract predators.

“Blue whales everywhere in the world, every population, during any time you are looking at, their conversation has become deeper and deeper over time and this is a completely inexplicable mystery,” he said.

“So maybe women in principle force men, through sexual selection, to sing a little lower every year because women think it is more attractive to go against a male that can sing deeply. And maybe some of it is the deeper you sing, the less likely you attract killer whales. “

About 89 percent of the whales who will fight against killer whales call over 1500 Hz.

Valks in “Fight Club” travel in groups and men sing very varied, beautiful, intricate songs that change for a few years, Branch said.

“If you are in a large aggregation with many men who compete, may not sing low and monotonous will not get you a friend. You want to sing in a way that shows your abilities to sing. And maybe it’s a good indication of your fitness, ”he said.

Branch said that his results are only the latest in a long line of facts about Baleen -Svalliv linked to how they respond to killer whales.

“Killer Whale Predation drives all types of aspects of Valecology, where they move, where they stop, how they mate, why they sing, how they sing, where they go to raise, how long they suck their calves until they Departs them, “he said.

“All these aspects of life in Baleen -whales appear to be driven, at least in part, of wreckage, or at least the fear of pork pounds.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published February 13, 2025

Ashley Joannou, the Canadian Press