Sounds produced by individual white whales, Delphinapterus from Svalbard during capture

• Main Authors: Kovacs, Kit M., Van Parijs, Sofie, Lydersen, Christian
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2008
• Subjects: BIOTA; biology; EARTH SCIENCE; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; MAMMALS; CETACEANS; TOOTHED WHALES; BIOSPHERE; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; Arctic; Jan Mayen; Svalbard; Wichebukta; North Atlantic; toothed whales
• Online Access: http://data.npolar.no/dataset/0323b588-5023-57d1-bf98-201cd8192730

Recordings were made of the sounds produced by white whales during capture events inStorfjorden, Svalbard, in the late autumn. Only four of eight captured individuals produced sounds.Four subadults, one female and three males, between 330 and 375 cm long, did not produce soundsduring handling. The four animals that produced sounds were as follows: a female subadult of 280cm produced repetitive broadband clicks; a solitary calf produced harmonic sounds, which wesuggest may serve as mother–calf ‘‘contact calls,’’ and a mother–calf pair were the two animals thatproduced the most sounds in the study. The mother produced ‘‘crooning’’ broadband clicks andfrequently moved her head toward her calf while producing underwater sounds. The calf producedthree types of frequency-modulated sounds interspersed within broadband click trains. No soundswere heard from any of the animals once they were free-swimming, or during ad lib recordingsessions in the study area, even though groups of white whales were sighted on several occasionsaway from the capture net.