Acoustic Communication in the North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis)

• Main Author: Parks, Susan E.
• Other Authors: MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Acoustics; *SOCIAL COMMUNICATION; *ACOUSTIC SIGNALS; *WHALES; *BREEDING; *ANIMAL COMMUNICATION; THESES; MALES; BEHAVIOR; ENDANGERED SPECIES; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; NOISE POLLUTION; HEARING; FEMALES; UNDERWATER SOUND SIGNALS; PLAYBACK; ACOUSTIC RECORDING SYSTEMS; FUNDY BAY; FERTILITY; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; *NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES; BALEEN WHALES; ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; *GROUP BEHAVIOR; SAG(SURFACE ACTIVE GROUP); MATING BEHAVIOR; *SOCIAL INTERACTION; baleen whales; Eubalaena glacialis; North Atlantic; North Atlantic right whale; Southern Right Whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA417736; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA417736

The focus of this thesis is the use of sound for communication by the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). The surface active group (SAG) is the predominant social interaction in this species for which use of sound has been documented. Different group compositions in SAGs indicate that both potentially reproductive and non-reproductive groups have been combined under one label. Sound production in SAGs suggests that females form and maintain the groups by producing Scream calls. Males produce Upcalls and Gunshot sounds. Some calves produce Warble sounds in SAGs. Acoustic recordings confirm that SAGs are complex interactions between individuals, rather than simple groups with only one whale producing all the sounds to attract other whales to the group. Playback experiments demonstrate that right whales can use sounds from SAGs to locate the groups. Male right whales approached both North Atlantic and Southern right whale SAG playbacks. Female right whales only approached Southern right whale playbacks. Anatomical modeling resulted in a frequency range of hearing for the right whale (10 Hz - 22 kHz) that is consistent with the sounds that they produce and overlaps the frequency range of most anthropogenic noise sources. This combination of research provides a thorough description how North Atlantic right whales use sound in SAGs and how increasing levels of noise in the oceans may impact right whales in these groups. (25 tables, 68 figures, chapter refs.) Prepared in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA. MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering.