
We present to you the voice of Migaloo, the White Whale. We thought it appropriate that Migaloo be granted the opportunity to speak before the meeting of the International Whaling Commission. As speakers are allowed only a few minutes to present their case, we extracted only the most poignant statements from our 1998 recording of Migaloo's two hour discourse. 'Migaloo' means 'White Fella'. He was named by Australian Aboriginal Elders.
The images are highlights from close extended pod encounters between 1988 and 2008. For images of Migaloo, please view the encounter as narrated by our intern Dave Williams:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vEj9gYZChw
''One of the great thrills of my life was hearing and feeling Migaloo's voice pass through my body as he swam past The Oceania Project's research vessel on October 2, 1998.''
~Dave Williams
The song is clearly audible through the hull of the research vessel. Depending on the proximity of the singer, the song is also audible standing on the deck. The sound pressure level of their song is reduced significantly once it passes into the air. Whales speak to each other constantly. The cadence and syncopation of their normal conversations are much different from that of their songs. They often make sounds above water through their nostrils.
Because water is denser than air it is a much better conduit for sound. If a singer is close you can hear him or her in much the same way standing on the deck as our recordings sound on YouTube. Of course the moment you enter the water, which we don't because it is illegal and unnecessary, the sound is felt at it's full sound pressure level, the equivalent of a jack hammer or loud rock concert.
We are working on several papers related to whale 'language'. The term 'language' in relation to Humpback Whales is not yet accepted by the scientific community so we are careful about using it. Although we firmly believe that whales of all species have highly evolved languages.
Three researchers in Hawaii, two computer engineers and a marine biologist, have created a computer application to asses the entropy of whale sounds (loss of energy from a system in this case sound frequency) and have compared them to a range of human languages. They have concluded that Humpback sounds are equivalent to human languages. They used the recordings of Dr. Roger and Katy Payne, made in the 1970s, who were the first scientists to recognize that the unique sounds made by Humpback Whales were in fact conscious, complex evolving songs.
Hominis universus balaena - Human as one with Whale
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MH4WpiMdgOc
THE OCEANIA PROJECT
http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=24509903679
Established in 1988, The Oceania Project is an independent, non-profit research organization dedicated to the conservation and protection of whales, dolphins and the oceans.
The first phase of a long-term study of the Eastern Australian Humpback Whales has been the major work of The Oceania Project:
http://oceania.org.au/expedition/research1.html
The Oceania Project has established a Cause in support of the International Fund for Animal Welfare:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/116485
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Presently, there are five ongoing research programs. One of which is a Photo Identification survey commenced in 1992 to provide data for the study of the behavior, social dynamics and ecology of the Eastern Australian Humpback Whales:
http://scu.edu.au/research/whales/index.php/11
Trish Franklin's observations and photo-id data have already made a significant contribution to documenting the recovery of the Eastern Australian Humpbacks following their near extinction due to commercial whaling in Antarctica.
Trish has taken and analyzed over 40,000 Photo Identification data images. Her Fluke Catalogue consists of over 3,000 individuals, the largest digital data archive on Humpbacks in the Southern Hemisphere.
This research has enabled Trish to document the life histories of nearly 600 individual Humpback Whales, many of whom we have come to know extremely well as they migrate annually up the east coast of Australia.
Information obtained from these research programs adds to the body of knowledge about Humpback Whales and also directly contributes to the Australian Cetacean Management and Monitoring Program:
http://oceania.org.au/expedition/research.html
The population of Humpbacks in the Pacific was estimated to be between 45,000 and 60,000 before whaling commenced. When whaling ceased in Australia due to the lack of whales, there were an estimated 150 individuals remaining.
Trish published a collaborative paper on the recovering Eastern Australian population in 2005. Using Photo-Identification 'mark re-capture' techniques. The population was estimated to be 7,000 and could now be more than 10,000.
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