NEW YORK – The endangered fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth. At 75 feet long and weighing 100,000 pounds, research shows they often live into their 90s .
New research released by marine biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society , a global conservation program that also operates the New York Aquarium , showed a surprising discovery.
“Over our four-year study, we detected fin whale song in every single month of the year. So they are here all the time in these waters,” explains WCS Assistant Marine Conservation Scientist Carissa King-Nolan.
For the study, WCS scientists analyzed about 2,000 hours of whale song recordings and found that the animals are constantly being detected in the waters between Montauk, New York and Cape May, New Jersey.
“Fin whale song is very similar to a drum beat. So that patterning and the spacing between the beats can vary by season, by behavior, and even by sub-population identity,” King-Nolan tells CBS New York’s Hannah Kliger.