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The mysterious sound known as biotwang was first recorded in the west Pacific in 2014, and it has been identified as the call of the Bryde's whale Balaenoptera brydei.


The mysterious sound known as biotwang was first recorded in the west Pacific in 2014, and it has been identified as the call of the Bryde's whale Balaenoptera brydei., The identification of the biotwang has led to the development of a new tool for understanding whale populations and their movements in the ocean, providing insights into the range and behavior of Bryde's whales., The biotwang sound was finally traced to a pelagic western North Pacific population of Bryde's whales with broad distribution, indicating seasonal and inter-annual variation linked to changing oceanographic conditions., The biotwang, characterized by strange, mechanical-sounding features, was first detected in the Mariana Archipelago during a sound survey, with scientists initially suspecting it was related to a baleen whale., NOAA scientists conducting a marine mammal survey in the Mariana Archipelago provided evidence linking the biotwang to the calls of Bryde's whales, recording these sounds in relation to the presence of nine individual whales during the survey., The use of long-term passive acoustic recorders by NOAA enabled the identification of consistent seasonal occurrences of biotwangs only in the Mariana Archipelago and Wake Island, aligning with the migration patterns of Bryde's whales in the western North Pacific., The discovery of the source of the biotwang in Bryde's whales has provided scientists with a new tool to track and understand the population distribution and migration patterns of these whales worldwide, potentially aiding in conservation efforts.

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Photo of biotwang

biotwang

Photo of mysterious sound

mysterious sound

Photo of Balaenoptera brydei

Balaenoptera brydei