Antarctic blue whales tracked by their sounds
- Published
Blue whales tracked using their song
Scientists have tracked down Antarctic blue whales for the first time by following the animal's song.
The huge mammals are rarely spotted in the Southern Ocean, but scientists from Australia picked up their deep sounds with special acoustic equipment.
They recorded 626 hours of songs and studied over 26,000 different calls.
is the largest creature that's ever lived on Earth
can grow up to 33m long and weigh up to 190 tonnes
has a heart the size of a small car
has blood vessels wide enough for a human to swim through!
With the information they were able to locate them and attach satellite tags to two whales to learn about their movements in the summer feeding season.
It's thought to be the first time whale sounds have been used to find their current location.
Scientist Virginia Andrew-Goff who worked on the project said that this way of studying the whales had been so successful that other researchers would follow.
Pictures courtesy of Australian Antarctic Division