3 ms·
It seems to me that one would not only have to record the whale but the actions of basically all whales (if this does travel across oceans then studying local w
by SanFranManDan 11y ago
It seems to me that one would not only have to record the whale but the actions of basically all whales (if this does travel across oceans then studying local whales might miss a lot of data). Then you could do some deep analysis on the correlation of while recordings with actions of the whale population. Of course you could try to just study a pod or local group of whales to try to decipher near range communication, but depending on how often they communicate long range, this might have too much noise.
- rch 11y agoYou could look at ocean currents and surface temperature to see if there's a relationship there. I can imagine whales would be interested in collaborating on a regional biodensity forecast.
- jbattle 11y agoThis is a good point - it seems not improbably that a whale's view of place would have more to do with their location in an oceanic current rather than their x, y coordinate in a plane. Sort of like if you describe your position within a car on a highway - you most naturally would say "im in the fast lane between shelbyville and springfield" rather than "i'm at lat/lng such-and-such" So to attempt to find correlations with the whale's absolute position may (who knows!?) be looking for a signal the whale isn't sending.
- fapjacks 11y agoOcean currents and swells are also how ancient Polynesians navigated the ocean so precisely over such huge distances. They developed the ability to read them like maps. Unfortunately, these skills are almost totally extinct. I believe there's only one Hawaiian "master navigator" in the old ways left alive. That intelligent animals could also survive by using this information is not at all unbelievable. Very cool and interesting to think about.