CLANG! Scientists Discover the Loudest Animal Sound Ever Recorded
Quick Summary
Scientists just published a study about one of the ocean’s greatest mysteries: the deep, slow CLANG made by male sperm whales. It turns out these sounds are the loudest communication signal ever measured from any animal on Earth. And scientists still are not totally sure why the whales make them!
What Happened?
Deep in the world’s oceans, something incredible is happening. Male sperm whales are making sounds so powerful that they could be heard by other whales roughly 43 miles away. That is like yelling from one city to another.
A team of international scientists traveled to several oceans — including near Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Norway, and Scotland — to record these mysterious sounds. They lowered special underwater microphones, called hydrophones, deep beneath the surface. And they captured something extraordinary.
Male sperm whales produce a slow, steady, rhythmic CLANG. Not the fast clicking that sperm whales use to hunt — these are slow, deep booms that come about once every three to ten seconds. Scientists describe them as sounding like a jail door slamming shut, over and over.
These slow clicks measure over 200 decibels underwater. That is extraordinarily loud. A jet plane taking off registers about 140 decibels in air. A rifle shot is around 165. The sperm whale’s slow clang blows both out of the water.
The whale’s enormous nose makes it possible. A male sperm whale’s nose can weigh over 5 tonnes — that is heavier than a small elephant! — and makes up about one-third of the whole animal’s body length. Inside the nose, two car-tire-sized structures snap together like a trap to create the click. Bigger nose, lower-pitched click. A louder, deeper sound may signal to other whales that this is a very big, very impressive male.
Scientists think these slow clicks might be how male sperm whales advertise themselves — saying “Hey! I am large and in charge!” to females, or “Back off!” to rival males. But they are not sure yet. They plan to play recordings of the sounds underwater and watch how nearby whales respond.
Why Does It Matter?
Sperm whales are already remarkable animals — they are the largest toothed predators on Earth, can dive deeper than 3,000 feet, and hold their breath for over an hour. Now we know their communication skills are just as record-breaking.
Understanding how whales communicate helps scientists protect them. Ocean noise from ships and machinery can interfere with whale signals. The louder and more long-range a whale’s communication is, the more important it becomes to reduce human-made ocean noise.
This research was published in the journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Big Words
- Decibel — a unit used to measure how loud a sound is; every 10 decibels added means the sound is about 10 times more intense.
- Hydrophone — an underwater microphone scientists use to record sounds beneath the ocean’s surface.
- Echolocation — a system some animals use to “see” with sound, sending out clicks and listening for the echoes that bounce back; sperm whales use this to hunt.
- Communication signal — a sound, movement, or behavior one animal uses to send a message to another.
Fun Fact
Sperm whales can hold their breath for over 90 minutes and dive to depths of more than 3,000 feet — deeper than most submarines go. At those crushing depths, they hunt giant squid in complete darkness, using sound as their only guide.
Think About It
Scientists think big male sperm whales may use their loud, low clangs as a way to show off their size. Can you think of other animals — or even people — that use sound to show how big or strong they are?
Sources
- Live Science — ‘Like a jail door slamming’: Male sperm whales’ mysterious rhythmic clanging is the loudest communication sound of any animal
- Phys.org — Male sperm whales produce loudest communication sounds ever measured in any mammal
- StudyFinds — The Loudest Sound In The Ocean May Be A Sperm Whale Flirting