The Christmas Whale: A depressing reminder of the importance of love

While you were eating Thanksgiving turkey, surrounded by loving family and friends, one whale was all alone, swimming through the Pacific Ocean with no one to talk to and no one to care.

Since 1989, researchers have been tracking this specific whale based on its distinct vocalizations. Baleen whales — a category of cetaceans without teeth, separate from their toothy dolphin/beluga/orca relations — are famous for producing eerie, underwater songs and scientists think those sounds are probably an extremely important aspect of participation in whale society. Baleen whales lack keen eyesight and sense of smell underwater, so sounds are probably how they recognize one another, help each other navigate, and even find mates. But these vocalizations happen in very specific frequency range — between 10 and 31 hertz, depending on the species. The Christmas Whale, on the other hand, speaks at 52 hertz. Imagine brining a piccolo to a tuba party. That is analogous to the awkward position that the 52-hertz whale is in.

Scientists usually pick up the call of the 52-hertz whale sometime between August and December, as it makes its way through a Cold War-era network of underwater microphones in the North Pacific. Although this whale has apparently survived for many years and seems to have grown and matured during that time (based on its voice deepening slightly), it also appears to exist outside of whale social systems. It travels alone. Nobody answers its high-pitched pleas for love. Every so often, non-scientist humans remember that it exists and write sad stories about it. But nobody is sure why it sings out of range of its fellow whales.

It strikes me as the kind of horribly sad thing that should get made into a maudlin children's picture book. The central message: Appreciate the love you have and give love in return. This holiday season, remember the plight of the loneliest whale. Give thanks for the presence of the people who love you. Show affection to others.

Listen to NOAA recordings of the 52-hertz whale (these have been sped up 10x)

The Loneliest Mix is a fan-site where you can download 52-hertz whale audio and video clips.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's page on the 52-hertz whale

Research paper explaining how scientists capture whale sounds in the north Pacific.

Picture taken the day after Thanksgiving at the Milwaukee Public Museum. I don't think they meant to tie into the legend of The Christmas Whale. But hey, it works.

I am grateful for friends like Grady, who alert me to stories like this.

• [Henry Pootel]

  Perhaps something like this…

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8GN7F1quCM

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    Yes. Just like that. 

• [SedanChair]

  Today In Anthropomorphism

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    You know what I hate? Fun. 

    • [SedanChair]

      Whole lotta whale-shaming going on ITP

      • [Brainspore]

        Whales are capable of experiencing shame? Who’s anthropomorphizing now?

        • [SedanChair]

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk

    • [Itsumishi]

      Whales too, I hear.

• [Itsumishi]

  Entirely guessing here, but could this whale simply suffer some kind of mutation that results in its song coming out at a very different pitch? Just a freak one in a billion occurrence?

• [Funk Daddy]

  Michael Jackson of the oceans.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CfskGi1RBk

• [Austin Burns]

  Why is it called the Christmas Whale?

  • [Brainspore]

    Because you can’t light a Menorah under water.

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    Because I thought that sounded funnier than Holiday Whale. And because the whale skeleton I took a picture of was wearing a Santa hat. 

    • [Austin Burns]

       Ahh, I thought it was like an official name and then Google wasn’t telling me anything.

• [Lee Wood]

  Whale songs are thought to be learned and passed down through families of whales, and the obvious inference is that this one’s family was hunted until he’s the only one left. “Appreciate the love you have and give love in return?”  Meh.  How about one less maudlin and more practical – stop hunting whales to the brink of extinction.  

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    A) This is meant to be comically maudlin
    B) We don’t know that hunting is the reason this whale is lonely. Some of the other equally possible explanations include a deformity of the whale’s vocal tracts, deafness, or even that it’s an extremely rare hybrid of two whale species. 

• [Chuck Vollers]

  http://youtu.be/qRSL7K5y8cg

• [Chuck Vollers]

  The above is Fish and Bird by Tom Waits

• [sudoLoki]

  Damn, got something in my eye.

• [Sirkowski]

  Can whales have bad breath?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Given that they puke and shit perfume, I’m going with No.

• [ThreeOranges]

  Maybe he’s a rage whale, broadcasting his condemnation of all that is wrong with whale society. He’s going to get his revenge on them during a screening of The Dark Whale Rises.