In 2021 a documentary was made about ‘The Loneliest Whale’, featuring a unique whale call at 52 Hz. The movie claims that a single, individual whale makes the call and that other whales do not understand the call. Watkins et al 2004 published a study showing that from 1989-2004 the call was likely coming from an individual whale, but have there been more recent detections of the signal? Have there been any indications that more than one individual uses that call?
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$\begingroup$ By 'single whale', do you mean 'single individual' or 'single species'? (Assuming 'single individual', but am uncertain) $\endgroup$– ChloeCommented Jul 20, 2022 at 11:46
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1$\begingroup$ I meant single individual. I'll clarify the question. Thanks Chloe $\endgroup$– ASimonisCommented Jul 20, 2022 at 19:42
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The original Watkins paper used widely space hydrophones to localize and track the 52 Hz whale and only ever found single tracks at a given time, suggesting a single individual made the sound. In 2015, a popular science article (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/maybe-worlds-loneliest-whale-isnt-so-isolated-after-all-180955005/) suggested there might be more than one whale because more recent recordings found the call on "widely separated sensors", which could suggest multiple animals. I haven't seen those data published - it's hard to interpret without knowing how far apart the sensors were and when the calls were detected on each to determine if it could be one whale, e.g. if the calls propagated extensive distances due to SOFAR (Sound Fixing and Ranging) channel propagation, or if multiple whales is the only plausible explanation.
