Wednesday 11 May 2011

Whales Throng New York City Area, Surprising Scientists (National Geographic)


photo credit Flip Nicklin & National Geographic


The Big Apple attracts some big attention - and some even bigger whales, apparently!

"It turns out a lot of big whales have a taste for the Big Apple area, including the 100-foot (30-meter) blue whale, the largest animal on Earth, scientists say."

Honestly, this is the worst spring ever for me to be away from home...Hundreds of right whales in Massachusetts, blue whales in New York...what the hell guys. What the hell.

Wait for meeeeee... :(

Anyway, a series of underwater sound recorders was placed along the southern coast of Long Island and into New York Harbor in 2008 and 2009 to study the types and amount of human-made noise underwater and how it affects whales. The songs of at least six different species of whales were heard around the Empire State!

Aaron Rice, science director of the bioacoustics lab, was surprised at the "juxtaposition of having such large charismatic animals that represent ocean biodiversity living right off of the largest city on the Atlantic coast."

I agree!

Full article here (National Geographic)

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