The Search for the Loneliest Whale
A whale, a solitary whale. Who is the 52 whale?
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Just imagine having to wander the world in search of a relationship, continually calling for a companion, a friend or anyone, but never receiving an answer or a response, ever. It sounds dreadful and sad, doesn’t it? Perhaps that is why many people around the world sympathize with the story of “52”, known to be the most solitary whale in the world.
The cetacean, named after the distinctive frequency of its appeal, which is 52 Hertz, belongs to an unknown, unidentified species. The sound it produces is just above the lowest note in a tuba. That of a whale, but unlike any other known record of them. So, this poor chap wanders the oceans of the world, year after year, desperately calling for a mate, but it had never found one. Curiously, 52 was never actually seen; only his helpless love songs were picked up by marine sonar detectors but never accompanied by another whale answering call, as it is customary.
The 52 phenomena are so intriguing that scientists closely monitored this peculiar frequency since it was first detected by William Watkins of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in 1989. He went on to study the mating calls of male whales in the North Pacific when was confronted with the anomaly of 52.
Since then, the US Navy’s sophisticated billions of dollars of hydrophone system, designed to track Soviet nuclear submarines during the Cold War, has recorded the migratory patterns of 52 every year, showing how it moves from central California to the Aleuts Islands, in the North Pacific. The Whale 52 always travels alone, and according to a report in the Deep-Sea Journal, his migration pattern has nothing to do with the presence or movement of other species of whales.
Experts have discovered that the sonic signature of 52, although profound for humans, is very acute compared to the regular call of the giant blue whales, or any other species of whale. Some believe this is because the giant mammal may have a physical deformity while others think it could be a hybrid of a blue whale with one of the other species.
Mary Ann Daher, a marine biologist who spent years listening to the hidden lives of whales, co-authored the original research on the discovery of 52. She says that as the story came to the public, more people began to identify themselves with the desperate situation of that whale. She reports that many people have written to her expressing their empathy.
“I find it very sad that so many people identify themselves with this whale,” she said in an interview. “I get letters, e-mails, and poems – mostly from women – and it’s painful to read some of the things they say. These people identify with this animal that does not seem to fit anywhere, does not make friends easily, feels alone and feels different from everyone else. ”
Musicians and storytellers around the world have used the unusual story of 52 as inspiration in their works. “Loneliest Whale in the World” is a rock written by the British band Dalmatian Rex and the Eigentones. Singer Laura Ann Bates also recorded a song dedicated to the unique whale, called “The Loneliest Creature on Earth” (lovely). And the German author Agnieszka Jurek wrote an illustrated children’s book entitled “The 52 Hertz Whale”.
It seems that people can see a series of diverse narratives in the mysterious lifestyle of the 52 Whale.
“For some people, he’s so lonely,” said filmmaker Josh Zeman, who is determined to find 52 one day. “To others, he is celebrating his loneliness. It is an inspiring message, because it continues to call, no matter what. To other people, it’s a warning tale about loneliness, technology, and social media. ”
Josh accepts that all this sounds very much anthropomorphic, something that scientists like Mary are entirely against. The biologist says that the romantic angle for the solitary journeys of 52 is entirely a human construct, there is no way for scientists to know what is happening in the mind of a whale.
“We do not know if he’s lonely or not,” she said. “The supposed emotional yearnings of 52 say much more about human beings who hear his story, than about the whale itself.”
On the other hand, scientific research also shows that whales are social creatures, and some whale songs can travel 5,000 km across the ocean for the sole purpose of communication. Having said that, it is easy to understand why most people, like Josh, choose to focus on this most romanticized aspect.
“Being lonely or calling and never being heard is one of our greatest fears as human beings,” he said. “We are completely social beings … Whales are the same.”
They have spindle-shaped cells, which allow them to love, hate, be part of certain (social) circles. Imagine a being out there who could even feel love, acceptance, and pain in a way they cannot even understand? ”
Last year Josh Zeman teamed up with well-known actor Adrian Grenier for a joint funding campaign from a 20-day expedition to find the 52. His goal was $300,000 but the moving story of the world’s most solitary whale, apparently caused enough commotion to reach $405,937. They plan to make a documentary on the follow-up to 52 and, if all goes well, mark it with audio detection equipment, allowing scientists to study it in rich detail.
“Do whales know each other’s names? Can they recognize each other as individuals by sounds alone? We have cut the whales off from themselves. Creatures that communicated for tens of millions of years have now effectively been silenced.” ~Carl Sagan, Cosmos
“Whales feel cohesion, a sense of community, of loyalty. The distress call of a lone whale is enough to prompt its entire pod to rush to its side- a gesture that lands them nose to nose in the same sand. It’s a fatal symphony of echolocation, a siren call to the sympathetic.” ~Marina Keegan, The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories
A feature-length documentary entitled 52: The Search for the Loneliest Whale is in production, shot by Joshua Zeman, the director of Cropsey, and produced by Adrian Grenier. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, the film is due for release sometime in 2018.
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