Quintessential Solitude

If loneliness is defined as "destitute of sympathetic or friendly companionship" this story should also be included in the dictionary entry. For over 15 years, a solitary whale call has been tracked at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Northeast Pacific. Its vocalization frequency and migration pattern do not match any known living whale species. Is it simply lost, forever separated from its own kind or is it the last of a dying species?

The calls were first noticed in 1989 and tracked since 1992 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and later by the U.S. Navy and NOAA. While they're certain the calls are that of a whale, its frequency is unique. Blue whales emit a call at a frequency of 15-20 Hz, fin whales' calls are at 20 Hz and humpbacks are much higher. Lonely Whale's calls are at 52 Hz. You can listen to its vocalizations here.

At first, scientists speculated that the whale was a hybrid or that the calls were that of an injured whale whose vocalizations were distorted by illness - unlikely considering the 15 year monitoring time. Whatever the reason, Lonely Whale is getting older as evidenced by its deepening vocalizations over the past few years. Still, it continues to call out for others like it. Some species of whales can live for up to 75 years so this poor creature's unfortunate solitude and search for companionship may be a long and fruitless quest.

While environmentalists and political pundits could make a statement on this story as a sad marker of what we're doing to the planet and the consequences of mankind's actions, what remains is that somewhere out there in the Northeast Pacific is a creature wandering hopefully in search of its own kind -- whose mournful calls will most likely go unanswered.