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Whales use a high pitch because, while not "going the distance," they can get a higher resolution of SONAR than they could if they use a lower freq sound with a long wavelength. --- Per Boysen <per@boysen.se> wrote: > >> ...Since lower frequencies typically > contain/require more energy in > >> the first place, they have a tendency to stay > more coherent over a > >> longer distance. That's one reason why the Navy > can use ELF > >> (extremely long frequency) waves to communicate > with submarines over > >> distances of many, many miles. > > On Mar 16, 2005, at 4:43, Matthias Grob wrote: > > and why create those huge whales such a high pitch > sound to call? > > Yeah, that's an interesting question that has been > in my mind since I > was a kid and heard dolphins for the first time. > Maybe they use this > for "short distance calls"? When I was scuba diving > in the Red Sea a > "fish expert" told me that sharks (as most fish BTW) > can "hear" with > their body. Along the left and right side lines they > have receptors > that can measure water waves (known to us as > "sound"). Especially > sharks are very talented in hearing those low > frequencies that are > created by a fish fighting or splashing by the water > surface (don't > swim like a damaged fish, if you don't want to call > for sharks;-) > > Maybe all fishes "hear" also much lower frequencies > (like 1 - 2 Hz?) > with their body lines. I guess the sea should be a > pretty noisy place > for a fish, if that's true, so maybe some sea > animals keep their > communication in that higher pitch only to stay free > from that terrible > noise floor? > > Greetings from Sweden > > Per Boysen > --- > http://www.looproom.com (international) > http://www.boysen.se (Swedish site) > http://www.cdbaby.com/perboysen > > >