Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Marine Mammal Research Program, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Kaneohe, HI 96744, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2019 Jul 11;222(Pt 13):jeb190728. doi: 10.1242/jeb.190728.
Southern right whales () invest substantial amounts of energy in their calves, while facing the risk of having them predated upon by eavesdropping killer whales (). We tested the hypothesis that southern right whale mother-calf pairs employ acoustic crypsis to reduce acoustic detectability by such predators. Specifically, we deployed multi-sensor DTAGs on nine lactating whales for a total of 62.9 h in a Western Australian breeding ground, and used a SoundTrap to estimate the concomitant acoustic background noise. Vocalisations were recorded at low rates of <10 calls h (1 call per dive) and at low received levels between 123±8 and 134±10 dB re. 1 µPa RMS depending on call type. We conclude that such acoustic crypsis in southern right whales and other baleen whales decreases the risk of alerting potential predators and hence jeopardizing a substantial energetic investment by the mother.
南方露脊鲸（）为其幼鲸投入了大量的能量，同时它们面临着幼鲸被偷听的虎鲸（）捕食的风险。我们检验了这样一个假设，即南方露脊鲸母子对通过声音伪装来减少这种捕食者的声学探测。具体来说，我们在西澳大利亚繁殖地的 9 头哺乳期鲸鱼上部署了多传感器 DTAG，总共 62.9 小时，并使用 SoundTrap 来估计伴随的声学背景噪声。发声以低速率记录<10 次呼叫/h（每次潜水一次），并且根据呼叫类型，在 123±8 到 134±10 dB re. 1 μPa RMS 之间的低接收水平。我们的结论是，南方露脊鲸和其他须鲸的这种声学伪装降低了提醒潜在捕食者的风险，从而危及母亲的大量能量投入。
