Pygmy blue whales sing more at night — and their songs may reveal when they are feeding

You cannot watch an endangered pygmy blue whale feed in the open ocean — but you might be able to listen for it. Listening in the Perth Canyon off Western Australia, a Curtin University team led by PhD candidate Andrew Davenport found the whales feed by day and sing far more at night, for up to three months of the feeding season. Published in Royal Society Open Science, the pattern means underwater microphones spread across a huge stretch of ocean could tell conservationists when and where the whales are feeding, without anyone needing to see them at all.

SDG 14 · Life below water — Mechanism: tech innovation