Scientists reveal why killer whales struggle to hear blue whales

Whales are well known for their songs. But scientists have discovered that, for some whales, those songs may also help them stay alive. A researcher from the University of Washington has found that some baleen whales, including blue, fin and minke whales, have evolved to sing at such low frequencies that killer whales, their only natural predator, cannot hear them. Scientists addressed this behaviour as acoustic crypsis. It means these whales make themselves difficult for predators to detect by using sounds that killer whales cannot hear. The discovery gives scientists a new understanding of why some whales sing the way they do and shows that the risk of being hunted has influenced how they communicate.