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BBC: Passive acoustic monitoring has solved a 50-year-old mystery. A bizarre quacking sound was first reported by submarines years ago and later recorded in the waters around the Antarctic and western Australia. Heard mainly during the winter months, the “bio-duck” sound has now been attributed to the Antarctic minke whale. In a recent paper published in Biology Letters, researchers explain how they attached acoustic monitoring tags to two of the mammals and recorded them making the distinctive noise. By identifying the whales’ sounds, the researchers hope to learn more about the animals, such as their migratory patterns and population size. Because of the sea-ice environment that they inhabit, the whales have been difficult to study.
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Mysterious quacking sound attributed to whales Free
23 April 2014