News release

From: The Royal Society

Preferred shallow-water nursery sites provide acoustic crypsis to southern right whale mother-calf pairs

Royal Society Open Science

Animals that communicate using sound must balance the need to be heard by their intended audience and the risk of being overheard by eavesdroppers such as predators. We found that southern right whale mothers and calves spend time in specific locations where they can hear each other, but other animals can’t hear them. In the shallow water nursery grounds where they congregate, right whale calls can only be heard from a very short distance away, making it difficult for distant animals to detect them. Choosing habitats to avoid eavesdroppers may be an overlooked adaptation in a variety of species.