Just like people in noisy places, North American right whales increase the volume1 of their calls as environmental noise increases, according to scientists.
Right whales are large baleen whales that often approach close to shore. They may have been given the name because they were the right whales to hunt as they are rich in fat and swim slowly. Therefore, whalers nearly hunted these whales to extinction.
Right whale upcalls are often used by researchers to protect this endangered species. Whales produce upcalls when they are alone or in the process of joining with other whales. An upcall begins low and rises in pitch2. It is the most frequent call produced by right whales.
“The influences of increases in ocean noise from human activities are a concern for the conversation of sea animals like right whales,” said Susan Parks, assistant professor of research associate, Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State. Parks and her colleagues look at short-term changes of calling behavior of individual North Atlantic right whales in various environmental noise situations. They find that right whales increase the energy in their calls, directly as background noise levels increase. Changing calling patterns can, however, incur3 costs including increased use of energy, change of the signal and the information it contains, and increased risks of being hunted. With increased noise the effective communication range for their living will become smaller and stress levels on individual animals may rise.
“Whether they can keep their communication range in noisier environments still needs to be tested,” said Parks. “Ocean noise levels will probably continue to increase due to human activities and there is a physical limit to the maximum4 source level that an animal can produce.”

Just like people in noisy places, North American right whales increase the volume1 of their calls as environmental noise increases, according to scientists.
Right whales are large baleen whales that often approach close to shore. They may have been given the name because they were the right whales to hunt as they are rich in fat and swim slowly. Therefore, whalers nearly hunted these whales to extinction.
Right whale upcalls are often used by researchers to protect this endangered species. Whales produce upcalls when they are alone or in the process of joining with other whales. An upcall begins low and rises in pitch2. It is the most frequent call produced by right whales.
“The influences of increases in ocean noise from human activities are a concern for the conversation of sea animals like right whales,” said Susan Parks, assistant professor of research associate, Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State. Parks and her colleagues look at short-term changes of calling behavior of individual North Atlantic right whales in various environmental noise situations. They find that right whales increase the energy in their calls, directly as background noise levels increase. Changing calling patterns can, however, incur3 costs including increased use of energy, change of the signal and the information it contains, and increased risks of being hunted. With increased noise the effective communication range for their living will become smaller and stress levels on individual animals may rise.
“Whether they can keep their communication range in noisier environments still needs to be tested,” said Parks. “Ocean noise levels will probably continue to increase due to human activities and there is a physical limit to the maximum4 source level that an animal can produce.”