Last February, a research vessel towing four hydrophones sailed through Antarctic waters to listen for whale signals. Researchers found one particular signal, known prosaically as Antarctic BW29, as quite strange. They picked it up on 14 separate occasions, but Antarctic BW29 did not perfectly match any known species.
For example, the peak frequency was too high for Arnoux’s beaked whales. And strap-toothed whales aren’t usually this far south. The three other known beaked whale species also imperfectly matched the criteria. The author’s conclude, “the source of these Antarctic signals might be a species that has yet to be identified.”
Of course, it’s also possible the known ranges of other beaked whales are wrong or that there is more variation between whales of the same species than previously thought.
via Gizmodo
Image: An Arnoux’s beaked whale in Antarctica. Soler97/Creative Commons
