7 Unsolvable Mysteries (That We Can Totally Solve)

5. The 52Hz Whale

The 52Hz Whale, often referred to as The Loneliest Whale, was named after its strangely high-pitched song. The whale's behaviour indicates that it is a blue whale and, although 52Hz sounds like a low rumble to human ears, it's basically the blue whale equivalent of Mariah Carey.

This caught the internet's collective imagination when it was hypothesized that the other whales might not be able to hear this strange song, and the 52Hz whale could be singing its heart out to an unhearing, unfeeling ocean, hence the name The Loneliest Whale. Humans were, of course, to blame, as whales have been known to unpredictably alter their behaviour in areas of noisy human activity, such as sonar testing.

This was all a bit of a storm in a teacup, however, as the whale probably isn't all that lonely - it might not even be one whale.

Hybrids fin whales and blue whales, produced when the two different species mate, are actually relatively common and, due to their slightly different shapes, can produce a song at 52Hz. The song has also been detected on two widely separated sensors, indicating that there is actually more than one, perhaps the Loneliest Whale has a friend after all?