Sounds from the deep baffle scientists

http://www.ananova.com/ ^ | Story filed: 03:47 Thursday 13th June 2002

[RightWhale]

That's why whales are so big. A lifetime of deep diving coupled with habitual waiting until a discreet moment.

[willyone]

Like Dolphins playing with a MK-48 and causing it to go off course by fooling it's Sonar.

[willyone]

Sperm Whales go down over a mile looking for giant Squid. Must build up some pressure.

[aristotleman]

Man, you sure know about whales!!!!!!!!

(forgive me, had to say that)

[Willie Green]

A lifetime of deep diving coupled with habitual waiting until a discreet moment.

Thus the origin of the whaler's alert: "Thar she blows!"

[GuillermoX]

What is the most elusive animal on earth?

[Arkinsaw]

"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

[pyx]

That's pretty interesting fact. (seriously) Any web sites with more info on deep diving whales and what they eat and their behavior ? I seem to recall hearing from someone that Sperm whales have teeth and have on occasion been aggressive with small fishing boats but I don't know if that's a sea myth or not.

[stands2reason]

It's why you fart when you first arrive at a ski resort.

Must be a local custom....

[ForOurFuture]

I seem to recall hearing from someone that Sperm whales have teeth and have on occasion been aggressive with small fishing boats but I don't know if that's a sea myth or not.

Sperm whales do have teeth, but I have never heard of aggression towards boats. Strangely enough, I just happened to be thinking of this sound thing earler today. It was on some Discovery show, and they played a recording of it. While the article seems fairly adamant that no known animal could make the noise, whales can generate very powerful sound. I recall an incident where an underwater diver was temporarily stunned by the call of a baby sperm whale. It is suspected that Sperm whales may use sound as a weapon to stun squid. Also, it is believed that some whales can communicate over hundreds of miles using powerful sound.

[UnBlinkingEye]

What is the most elusive animal on earth?

A politician asked to tell the truth?

[chasio649]

I listened to whales for weeks on end...they made bloops and bleeps and all sorts of odd noises...but very low frequency sounds are usually exclusive to blue whales which are in the pacific..i was in the atlantic. Now for a strange noise..listen to a bearded seal...irritating after about 2 weeks of constant bawling from a large herd. No wonder we couldn't find a Soviet typhoon class.

[Brett66]

I find it hard to believe a whale fart would make a "bloop" sound, should be more like a thundering "boom".

[oldvike]

Weird. Reminds me of that book by Peter Benchley called "Meg". It was about a giant megaladon that had been trapped in an ocean trench during the last ice age and somehow made it's way back up to the surface waters and wreaked havoc. Cool book.

[RightWhale]

It may be even more in the low frequency spectrum. 1000s of miles, even from different oceans.

[Willie Green]

I find it hard to believe a whale fart would make a "bloop" sound, should be more like a thundering "boom".

Well, it was just a theory anyway.
With Jacques Cousteau no longer with us, I suppose we'll never know for sure.