A World of Whale Sound Beneath the Sea
In A World of Whale Sound Beneath the Sea, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows scientists as they track whales. This tracking enables the scientists to redirect shipping and reduce collisions. Tracking also allows them to monitor how the whales use sound as a vital means of communication deep beneath the sea. Unfortunately, human activity and noise pollution is masking some of that sound, having an impact on whale behavior in ways that we’re still learning about. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Horizon: The Death of the Oceans, which reveals what scientists are learning about what is happening in the oceans and whether it is too late to save their remarkable diversity.
Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before. Learn more.
Lesson Express
Q: When do the tags detach themselves, and then what happens?
A: The tags detach from the whales after they have collected enough information. Once they detach, they can float to the surface, allowing scientists to retrieve the tags and study the information they recorded.
Q: What colors represent the levels of sound?
A: Blue shows lower levels of sound, and red shows increasingly louder levels.
Q: When the technology shows that the whales are disappearing, what does that mean for the sounds they make?
A: It may mean that human-made noise is making the whales’ sounds harder to detect. The whales may still be in the area, but scientists may have difficulty hearing and tracking their calls.
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