I hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunting season, travel to this area if you get sick or tangled in rope).
> Bursting from their enormous lungs at over 300mph (483km/h), a humpback whale's blow can rise up to 7m (23ft) into the air.
Pick a lane BBC.
But this is great news. Also the fact that whales "transport huge amounts of nutrients across the globe" (linking to [1]) is fascinating. The role of whales in sucking up critters in one place and pooping them out elsewhere being a fundamental dynamic that drives global ocean ecosystems... just chefs kiss
It's not just the BBC, it's the UK as a whole. Miles per hour or deeply entrenched for speeds but for measurements we use meters. The same for weight, we weigh people in stone but we weigh everything else with grams.
I remember reading about whales returning to an area they hadn't been in for decades and people were worried about them eating all the local fish, but in fact their faeces enriched the local ecosystem from the ground up, leading to more fish. It's a bit like the counter-arguments to the lump of labour fallacy.
Apparently they also measurably affect the vertical water mixing. Fish need dissolved oxygen to breathe, so they don't normally venture past the thermocline. And their fins are also vertical, so they don't cause a lot of vertical water movement.
But whales routinely dive deep, and their tail fin is _horizontal_ and it creates powerful updrafts.
Another organism that affects mixing is apparently jellyfish.
There must have been so much unseen behavior when there were millions more whales in the ocean. Here's hoping that we can see more
Given the current trajectory of whale populations, 'we' probably won't be seeing that. Maybe in many generations of humans.
Well, the population growth probably isn't linear, so maybe?
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I hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunting season, travel to this area if you get sick or tangled in rope).
There is a group that is attempting to communicate with whales by training a transformer based model on whale sounds.
https://www.projectceti.org/
https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-...
It's just a pity we couldn't figure out how to better coexist with whales.
We know how, but we choose not to.
The same goes for most of our ecological problems, really.
Erm, it's illegal to talk to dolphins: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it...
No it isn't and that clickbait article doesn't say it is.
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It’s going to be prog rock, isn’t it?
no, i think they're just going to start a podcast.
Yes officer, this one right here.
Not necessarily. Look at the Gorillaz.
The water goes all the way up to 11
their music's making waves
Migaloo is joining Humphrey the Whale's team in SF forming a super team
Alright, who pissed off Aquaman this time?
holy units batman
> Bursting from their enormous lungs at over 300mph (483km/h), a humpback whale's blow can rise up to 7m (23ft) into the air.
Pick a lane BBC.
But this is great news. Also the fact that whales "transport huge amounts of nutrients across the globe" (linking to [1]) is fascinating. The role of whales in sucking up critters in one place and pooping them out elsewhere being a fundamental dynamic that drives global ocean ecosystems... just chefs kiss
[1] https://www.nature.com/research-intelligence/nri-topic-summa...)
It's not just the BBC, it's the UK as a whole. Miles per hour or deeply entrenched for speeds but for measurements we use meters. The same for weight, we weigh people in stone but we weigh everything else with grams.
I remember reading about whales returning to an area they hadn't been in for decades and people were worried about them eating all the local fish, but in fact their faeces enriched the local ecosystem from the ground up, leading to more fish. It's a bit like the counter-arguments to the lump of labour fallacy.
I think the BBC policy is to provide every measurement in both types of unit.
Ordering is inconsistent.
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Apparently they also measurably affect the vertical water mixing. Fish need dissolved oxygen to breathe, so they don't normally venture past the thermocline. And their fins are also vertical, so they don't cause a lot of vertical water movement.
But whales routinely dive deep, and their tail fin is _horizontal_ and it creates powerful updrafts.
Another organism that affects mixing is apparently jellyfish.
It's the Entmoot of the sea.
They may gather up for a protest. See the whale north of Germany who seems unable to swim away.
They are going to save us from that XXIII century probe, right
Perhaps they're forming a delegation to decide what to answer to that thing coming from space? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV%3A_The_Voyage_Hom...
Seriously though, we have Star Trek IV to thank in no small part for this amazing humpback comeback success story. Live long and prosper!
So long and thanks for all the fish, perhaps.
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Hopefully they are building an army to conquer the planet.
Or they pack up to leave.