News Releases

For immediate release from Anon.org

YUQUOT, Canada -- Efforts of whale researchers who have been listening to live internet broadcasts of a solitary orca named Luna have been rewarded with an all-night concert of his calls.

LunaLive is the name of the project, which utilizes a satellite uplink to broadcast the sounds of an underwater microphone (or hydrophone) from Luna’s very remote home in Nootka Sound. Researchers from around the globe are listening in to LunaLive, providing coverage 24 hours a day.

“Yay! I heard Luna!” exclaims one researcher. Luna, who has been living alone in a remote area of British Columbia, doesn’t spend every night near the hydrophones, and oftentimes the sports fishing boat traffic is so loud during the days that his voice is literally drowned out. But last night, researchers logged over 130 separate calls between the hours of midnight and 6:30 AM.

“It’s generally easier to hear Luna at night, since there tends to be less boat traffic, but last night was really a treat,” according to Keith Wood, LunaLive program administrator. “He would get on a specific call, repeating it time after time, oftentimes changing the call up just a bit – which was very exciting to us.”

Without the company of other orcas, researchers wonder if the solitary Luna has taken to “playing” with his sounds, producing variations on regular call types depending on his mood and activity. For example, one call, just a quick “ee-uu-wee” kind of sound, is a call Luna uses frequently but last night Luna kept adding an additional note to its beginning. “It was quite entertaining,” commented Wood.

And for the researchers who are listening in, it’s the icing on the cake. Their primary goal is to log Luna’s calls into the LunaLive on-line database, which will be used to provide a baseline description of Luna’s vocal behavior. “If we can understand what calls Luna makes, and how often he makes them, then we can follow changes in his behavior,” says Wood. “And ultimately, when Luna is reunited with this family, researchers may then be able to track his movements by listening for his unique voice.”

“Researchers from Canada and the US monitor mostly during the daytime, but the boat noise during the day is very intense, and often mask Luna’s vocalizations, so we added researchers from Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany and Australia to cover the quiet nighttime hours,” explained Ryan Lejbak, moderator of the ReuniteLuna.com web site.

LunaLive is a joint effort on the part of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations and a number of NGOs who have been working to keep Luna safe, and to make the most out of his isolation in Nootka Sound. “There are a lot of folks who are very concerned about Luna’s well-being, and we’re very happy to be contributing what we can to them, to Luna’s safety, and to the scientific understanding of Luna’s behavior,” stated Lejbak.

Keith Wood is founder of www.ANON.org and owner/captain of the sailing vessel ANON – the principle vessel engaged in last year’s search for Luna’s family. He can be contacted via info@anon.org.