Whales Heard Near New York City

[Dover]

The calls of three whale species have been heard in the waters around New York City for the first time.

Scientists had never listened so intently before. So after installing sound recorders 13 miles from the New York Harbor entrance and off the shores of Fire Island, a team of researchers heard the calls of fin, humpback and North Atlantic right whales.

"These are some of the largest and rarest animals on this planet trying to make a living just a few miles from New York's shores," said Chris Clark, director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The whales were known to migrate through the region. The new information about the seasonal presence of whales will help policymakers develop management plans to protect them, according to a statement released today....>

http://www.livescience.com/animals/080916-whale-migration.html

[gristy]

1. That's a beautiful picture - very peaceful

[nankerphelge]

2. Cool...

n/t

[sharesunited]

3. I pray they aren't mugged.

[madmax]

4. Can that really be near NYC?

The water is so blue! I've lived in NJ all my life until recently moving to NC and I don't ever recall NJ beaches being that blue. No nasty Joisey jokes either ;)

[Marrah_G]

7. The picture was not of the whales in question- just a stock photo

Waters in the North East are not that clear.

[chatnoir]

5. God, they're so beautiful...

What a beautiful picture. May they find their way and live long peaceful lives.

[DainBramaged]

6. The ONLY threat they face is large ships and idiot boaters chasing them

Daddy Daddy get closer so I can touch it. OK Beelzebub, I'll try. Don't fall out of the boat. (Beelzebub gets blown off the boat by the exhaling humpback and then Daddy crashes into it and overturns the boat, therefore saving the world from another idiot father and son).


No natural predators in the mid Atlantic. Could we be seeing the beginnings of a whale population boom?