Baleen Whales

Baleen whales, known for their unique vocalization using a modified larynx, have been studied for their underwater sounds barely audible to humans.

Key highlights of the study:

• They are equipped with a cushion-like tissue made of fat and muscles for underwater vocalization.
• Unlike toothed whales and dolphins, which use a special organ in their nasal passages for sound production.
• Baleen whales have large and stiff arytenoids in their larynx forming a ring that vibrates from airflow during exhalation to generate sound.
• Humpback and bowhead whales can produce higher-pitched sounds audible to humans, but their vocalizations, which occur at the same frequency range and ocean depths as human-made shipping noises, suffer interference, affecting their communication capabilities.
• These whales are physiologically constrained and cannot alter their sound pitch to evade human noise, highlighting the impact of human activity on their natural behaviors.

About the Baleen whales:

• TheBaleen whales, also known as whalebone whales, include species like the fin, sei, right, blue, gray, rorquals minke, and bowhead, characterized by their unique baleen for filtering prey and 2 blowholes on their head.
• They undertake annual migrations between cold feeding and warm breeding waters.

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