Friday, December 14, 2007

summary of noisy boats may bother orcas

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.com/articles/20040505/Note2.asp
Sound travels long distances underwater. Plus a lot of sonic action, especially from boat action. Orcas are changing their calls to adapt to the noise boat of engines. The researchers are studying 3 pods and their calls. The first pods call sounds like a train whistle the second sounds like a mewing kitten the third sounds like a slide whistle. Pods these unique calls to communicate among themselves over half the time. The researchers studied orca calls from three time periods the most recent which was taken in 2003 in which the calls where 15% longer when boats where present. In the last decade whale watching tours have increased 5 times what they used to be. Researchers fear that this is harming the orcas. The population of ocars has been shrinking seen 1996. We picked this bog because Derik likes whales, and for my self , Brian, i want to become a marine biologist. This was very interesting and I think that something will be done to save these animals.