Singing a new little tune today... 🐋 Scroll down to read about how whale songs sparked the global movement to save our ocean planet 🌏 #HappyNewYear ~~~ Posted @withregram • @beasties.wildlife In the mid-20th century, whale populations were dwindling. More than 50,000 whales were killed each year by commercial whalers. But then in the 1960s, a very special song was heard for the first time that went onto spur one of the biggest animal conservation movements in history. That song? The sound of humpback whales singing. ⁠ ⁠ It started with some underwater equipment that, for the first time, captured the sound of humpback whales. At the time, Frank Watlington (a sound engineer) didn't even know what he was listening to. He'd been trying to record dynamite explosions, which you can hear muffled in the audio and the whales were actually getting in his way. ⁠ ⁠ The recordings were shared with a biologist Roger Payne who immediately knew the impact they would create. For the next two years, Payne spent as much time as he could distributing the recordings. The songs begun being played on the radio and on the TV as apart of Greenpeace’s campaign “Save The Whales.” The world started to pay attention, and saving the whales became the mission that would introduce us all to the idea of saving nature. ⁠ Information from Michael May, NPR.⁠ Video by @SeaLegacy⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠