tribes

Trevor Barton 8-01-2014
Albert Ziganshin / Shutterstock.com

Albert Ziganshin / Shutterstock.com

In the northern Pacific Ocean, there is a giant whale named 52 Hertz. Scientists named him that because when he sings, the frequency of his whale song is around 52 Hertz. When other whales sing their songs, they sing at frequencies between 15 and 25 Hertz. His song cannot be heard by any other whale. He is known as the loneliest whale in the world.

Normally whales are communal creatures. They live their lives in family groups. They migrate from warm waters to cooler waters to give birth and find food. They follow the same migration route from year to year. 52 Hertz is different. He lives alone. He does not follow a migration route. He wanders the ocean, a lonely, wandering whale.

We do not know what kind of whale 52 Hertz is. He could be a deformed blue or fin whale. He could be a cross breed of those two types of whales. He could be a kind of whale we have yet to discover. He is an unknown whale.

Soon a team will set out on a seven-week expedition in search of 52 Hertz. Will they find him? Will he find them? Does he want to be found? I wonder.

Chief Jonathan Eshiloni Mumena (far left). Photo courtesy RNS.

Chief Jonathan Eshiloni Mumena (far left). Photo courtesy RNS.

In some African countries, tribes have shunned circumcision because it was seen as a Muslim practice or was simply considered primitive. 

“We thought they were born differently and had to reconfigure the way they were,” said African Chief Jonathan Eshiloni Mumena. 

So the tribal chief was not prepared for his son’s declaration that he wanted to get circumcised.