Pilot whale vocalizations and acoustic behavior
While lowering a hydrophone into the aquatic habitat of short-finned pilot whales, the listener will sometimes detect a huge variety of sounds. Depending on the whales' behavioral context, the listener will hear vocalizations such as ...clicks..., ...whistles..., ...calls... or ...grunts.... Though short-finned pilot whales are acoustically active animals, they also have prolonged periods of silence.
Click ...here... to see and mainly hear a group of short-finned pilot whales communicating (.mov file with 5.9 MB). The whales emit a variety of sounds such as clicks, whistles, grunts and calls.
