Researchers Are Tracking The World's Loneliest Whale Who Has Been Stranded Alone For Over 30 years

A new documentary is following the life of what is known as 'the loneliest whale in the world'.

Nicknamed the 'Jezebel Monster' the whale has been crying out into the empty ocean for 30 years in search for other whales.

The whale first came to the attention of researchers when US military listening devices designed to track enemy submarines picked up the sound of the whale in the 1980s. The US military then brought in whale researcher William Watkins and gave him exclusive access to the recording over the following decades.

One thing that differentiates the whale from others is the high pitch at which it calls. While most whales sound at 15Hz and 30Hz, this whale calls at just 52Hz.

It was after documentary filmmaker Joshua Zeman heard the story that he approached Watkins in order to create the new doc.

Worryingly, shortly after the documentary was given the green light, the whale disappeared, and many believed it had died or had eventually found other whales. Raising $400,000 on Kickstarter the team set out on a voyage to track the whale. Luckily, though perhaps sadly, the whale was found, again alone and calling into the void.

The whale had been found to have moved across the Pacific and is now residing in an area close to Los Angeles. This has worried researchers as the huge amount of ships that come into that area could pose a threat to the whale's safety. The ships can also interfere with the researcher's ability to hear the whale's calls.

Zeman said:

"I didn't expect that we would wind up having a villain. I get all the way out there and you're telling me that part of the reason we can't hear [the whale] is because of this thing?"

The documentary, 'The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52', can now be viewed online.

[h/t: The Hill]