Hannah Steenbock

Signal of the 52-hertz whale

I’m quite excited about finding an article about this whale on Wikipedia. Because this fellow is the inspiration for Pu’ukani’s Song. I don’t remember where I first read about him.

Basically, they call him the loneliest whale in the world. That’s because he sings at a frequency that no other whale uses. He’s unique. And possibly lonely. And still alive, they have found his song under the sea every year.

He lives in the Pacific, travelling as far north as Alaska. And that’s about all we know about him. He might be a fin whale – blue whale hybrid, or  have a malformation. Even so, he has grown and matured, and the voice has lowered slightly. So much for the science.

For me, just the idea of such a giant singing every year, possibly hoping to attract a mate or maybe at least some company is quite inspiring. Letting my mind wander, it goes into imagining a culture of whales, a society with rules, traditions, good people and possibly bad people. All of it under water, dominated by the environment, floating, with sounds that echo through the vast blue.

That’s what reading Wikipedia can do for me. What inspiration did you find on Wikipedia?

Image Source: Wikipedia, owner: NOAA