Up until a few days ago, I had never heard a blue whale. I wasn’t even aware they made sounds that my primate ears could pick up. But, thanks to Australian Antarctic Division researchers, I was able to listen to the massive mammal for the first time:

It’s an incredibly soothing sound. Certainly moreso than Jeff Bridges and his singing bowls. But I’m probably not hearing the blue whale’s “song” as it’s meant to be heard. My ears are all wrong.

I take in sounds through my ear canal. But modern whales are weird. As their four-legged ancestors slipped into the sea and took up permanent residence there, evolution granted whales an entirely different way of hearing