That’s my interpretation of this news, anyway.
A New Population of Blue Whales Was Discovered Hiding in the Indian Ocean
The whales in the group seem to sing a unique song.
…
The covert cadre of whales, described in a paper published last week in the journal Endangered Species Research, has its own signature anthem: a slow, bellowing ballad that’s distinct from any other whale song ever described. It joins only a dozen or so other blue whale songs that have been documented, each the calling card of a unique population.
“It’s like hearing different songs within a genre — Stevie Ray Vaughan versus B. B. King,” said Salvatore Cerchio, a marine mammal biologist at the African Aquatic Conservation Fund in Massachusetts and the study’s lead author. “It’s all blues, but you know the different styles.”
“…a slow, bellowing ballad.”
I like the word play in this story. “…covert cadre of whales…” “It’s all blues, but you know the different styles.”
Why were the whales hiding? And how do blue whales hide? They’re quite big, after all and are mammals, thus have to come up for air every once in a while.
Why does this guy think they’re singing the blues, instead of, say, Bulgarian folk tunes or a Buxterhude ditty?
It’d be a crushing disappointment if the scientists decode the song and discover that the whales are saying, “So, what are you thinking about for dinner?”