Whales 'stressed by ocean noise' (BBC) [View all]
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Noise from ships stresses whales nearby, researchers have shown.
Ships' propellers emit sound in the same frequency range that some whales use for communicating, and previous studies have shown the whales change their calling patterns in noisy places.
Now, researchers have measured stress hormones in whale faeces, and found they rose with the density of shipping.
The species studied in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, the North Atlantic right whale, is listed as endangered.
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Aquarium scientists have been studying them in the bay since 1980.
But the new study, reported in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, came about through chance.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16926005
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