In 2004, The New York Times wrote an article about the loneliest whale in the world. Scientists have been tracking her since 1992 and they discovered the problem:
She isn’t like any other baleen whale. Unlike all other whales, she doesn’t have friends. She doesn’t have a family. She doesn’t belong to any tribe, pack or gang. She doesn’t have a lover. She never had one. Her songs come in groups of two to six calls, lasting for five to six seconds each. But her voice is unlike any other baleen whale. It is unique—while the rest of her kind communicate between 12 and 25hz, she sings at 52hz. You see, that’s precisely the problem. No other whales can hear her. Every one of her desperate calls to communicate remains unanswered. Each cry ignored. And, with every lonely song, she becomes sadder and more frustrated, her notes going deeper in despair as the years go by.
Just imagine that massive mammal, floating alone and singing—too big to connect with any of the beings it passes, feeling paradoxically small in the vast stretches of empty, open ocean.
Forever. alone.
That’s incredibly sad.
Isn’t it? Even with the ‘human’ aspect taken off it.
Somebody is practicing just a wee, little, tiny bit of Anthropomorphism there…
Whoa, dude…I love it when you use big words…
Blue–my thoughts exactly, although there is a little anthropopathism too.
Couldn’t some scientists fashion her a voice modulator?
And what happens when she reproduces offspring who also have the “glitch” in their voice?
She’ll have company?
Well that just depressed the hell out of me. Poor thing.
Whales are extremely intelligent and social creatures, similar to elephants. There’s no way anyone could convince me that neither of them feels sadness or loneliness because they’re ‘just animals’
Agreed
Humans are not so far removed from the higher mammals in our basic needs and desires
very sad
Thanks man… Now I want to go slit my wrists… 🙁