Why is one single whale singing at the wrong frequency? That’s a question experts have been discussing since 1989 when US Navy hydrophones detected a strange whale call.
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Even in the 1980s, hearing whale song on underwater recordings wasn’t unusual – but there was something odd about this sound. It sounded like a whale but the noise was detected at 52 hertz, much higher than usual baleen whale calls like that of a blue whale or fin whale. So, what was making this noise?
Although the identity of the whale is unclear (we don’t even know if it’s male or female), some people call it Blue 52. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution tracked this whale’s unique call for over 12 years. They heard the calls in the Pacific Ocean between August and February – mostly in December and January – before the animal disappeared out of range.
The scientists suggested that the noise was coming from one individual because, as they write in the paper, “only one series of these 52-Hz calls has been recorded at a time, with no call overlap”.
They haven’t ever seen the whale or been able to confirm its species – after all, you’d need incredible luck to find one specific whale in the vast ocean.
Experts have floated some theories around this whale’s dulcet tones: does it have some malformation that makes its voice higher than other whales? Or could it be a hybrid of two species – perhaps it’s a flue whale, the offspring of a blue and fin whale?
Whatever the answer, this oddball captured the world’s attention. If the whale was calling at the wrong frequency, people wondered whether other whales could hear it. And, if they couldn’t the question on everyone’s lips was: was it lonely?
This suggestion led the solo singer to be dubbed “the loneliest whale in the world” even though there’s no scientific proof to suggest that it is lonely, or that whales can even feel loneliness in the way we understand it.
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The South Korean boy band BTS was even inspired to write the song Whalien 52 about it and a 2021 documentary called The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 set out to find the solitary whale – during their quest they discover how much loud shipping noise, and other noise pollution, can interfere with whale communication.
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At the time of writing, no-one has ever laid eyes on this whale. Perhaps one day someone will – blue whales can live for around 90 years – but, until then, many of our questions about Blue 52 will remain.
