Blue whales usually vocalize at 15–20 Hz, fin whales at 20. At that moment he decided to set off on a mission to share this story with the world in the hopes of one day finding 52. The 52-hertz whale is an individual whale of unidentified species which calls at the very unusual frequency of 52 Hz. Today, we are finally taking our quest to the water, and this is because of you.We are incredibly excited to announce that today – a team led by Director Josh Zeman and expert marine scientists Dr. John Hildebrand (SIO), Dr. Ana Sirovic (SIO), and Dr. John Calambokidis (CRC) – are hitting the great Pacific Ocean in search of the mysterious whale.We are humbled by all the people who came together to make this happen.We thank the over fifty thousand active followers across our social media platforms who encourage us to continue in this effort each day; the faithful and dedicated Kickstarter backers who gave us the means and exposure to make this research a reality; our partner organizations that share our beliefs and care for the oceans; our brilliant team of scientists who we are so honored to call our team leaders – experts in the field of marine biology and bio-acoustics, bringing with them not only the technology and their expertise, but also the willingness to strive for knowledge in favor of ocean health; and finally our amazing crew and production team without which this would not be possible.Our mission: to research this amazing whale who calls out at a frequency no other whale can understand, and to study why this happens. The fact that the whale has survived and apparently matured indicates it is probably healthy. Absolutely none of this could have happened without you.With the expedition on track, we can confirm that the Kickstarter rewards fulfillment for Lonely Whale will take place in the Spring of 2016.Stay tuned- more pictures/ updates/ science to come! Most importantly, your support allowed for some of the most passionate filmmakers and scientists to come together in the same room (boat) in pursuit of a common goal.You’ll have to wait and watch the documentary to see if 52 was found, or not, but we are thrilled to have had such a successful mission at sea, and are excited to share more news with you soon…In the words of one of our lead scientists, John Calambokidis :On the filmmaking front, Josh and the video team recorded NON STOP- We have amazing footage that we are just starting to go through! (timjeffsart: I just illustrated a book by Leslie Jamison called “52 Blue” which was published by The Atavist.com. We are excited to announce the team is back, safe and sound, from their expedition on “The Truth.”All we can say is WOW! The call patterns resemble neither blue nor fin whales – they are shorter and more frequent, besides being at a much higher frequency. An excerpt of the story can be previewed here via Slate. !Taylor Swift has something to say about the Lonely Whale. With Dr. Watkins’ death in 2004 there was no one left to listen for 52 Hz, until now. At 52 Hertz, it is just higher than the lowest note on a tuba. None of this would have been possible without YOU.
You can purchase it for $3.99 on their site. Read a gorgeous telling of 52’s story in, 52 Blue, by Leslie Jamison. We are excited to continue this amazing journey with you by our side.Five years ago Director Josh Zeman first learned of the mystery of the loneliest whale in the world. When we can isolate a calling whale (maybe, if we are lucky it will be the 52Hz whale), we will dispatch a small boat manned by researchers from the Cascadia Research Collective to its location for collection of photographs to allow us to catalogue the whale and create a photo ID, collect a genetic sample, and, if we are still very lucky, deploy an acoustic tag on the animal so we can track its diving behavior.”Meanwhile, our director and film crew will be documenting it all – above and underwater!This is the next giant step towards our goal of opening the world’s eyes to the importance of ocean health, primarily ocean noise pollution, and the great effects that the deterioration of the waters have on creatures in them.We are departing on our vessel, known as The Truth, into the Pacific this evening!Again, we thank you so much for your support of this project.
It has been described as the "world's loneliest whale". It has been detected regularly in many locations since the late 1980s and appears to be the only individual emitting a whale call at this frequency. It was even better than we hoped for!Overall, the expedition was a huge success in breaking scientific ground and moving closer to our goal. The sonic signature is that of a whale, albeit at a unique frequency. Here’s an excerpt from her Rolling Stone cover interview:( timjeffsart: I just illustrated a book by Leslie Jamison called “52 Blue” which was published by The Atavist.com.