Understanding whale song Become a citizen scientist and study w
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Listen to and categorize whale song
When we need you:
- Weekdays, Weekends, Evenings, and Flexible
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Did you know that Killer Whales (Orcas, which are actually the largest dolphin species) can talk to each other in quite sophisticated ways? Each family of Killer Whales has its own dialect and closely-related families share calls. The Whale Song Project would like you to help them to categorize their sounds in order to understand what whales are saying.
What you're basically be doing is listening to a piece of whale song as represented by a spectogram, ie a visual representation of a snippet of whale conversation. Your job is to match up the main sound from an array of sounds featured below the main spectogram - usually 9 in number. It is about finding the best match available from a group picked out by a computer that thinks they are similar. The human brain will do the final matching, because apparently it's better than a computer - for the time being!There is a growing concern that sound generated by human activities can affect marine mammals. Human activities, such as shipping, searching for oil/gas using seismic surveys, explosions, military tactical sonars, and offshore constructions can produce loud sounds that affects animals, with potentially negative consequences.
The communication of killer whales and pilot whales is still poorly understood. Studies such as The Whale Song Project have been set up in order to establish regulations and guidelines to mitigate the impact of man-made sound on marine life.
Website: http://helpfromhome.org/whale-fm-understanding-whale-songTime taken: A couple of minutes to listen to and match up a similar whale song
Impact: Helps marine researchers understand what whales are saying for their future preservation
Cost: Nothing
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