In the Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered a completely new colony of pygmy blue whales, which have eluded discovery for decades despite their massive size.

The Chagos song, which belongs to the new pygmy population, is divided into three portions: the most complicated, followed by two simpler pieces.

"For over 18 years, this new whale song has been a prominent element of the soundscape in the Central Equatorial Indian Ocean," Rogers said. The researchers are certain that the song belongs to a whole new community, not simply a few lone individuals, because of its widespread use. The actual size of this new population, however, is unknown.

"Unfortunately, we have no notion how big the population of pygmy blue whales is," Leroy remarked. "Acoustic [surveys] are unable to provide us with this information at this time."

"It's amazing to discover a new population of pygmy blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere," Rogers added. "It adds to the world population that we were previously unaware of."

The experts believe it will only be a matter of time until they can clearly identify the presence of the Chagos inhabitants by visual identification.

Another research employing acoustic surveys, co-authored by Rogers and Leroy, discovered a new colony of blue whales in Oman in December 2020.

"This brings the total number of pygmy blue whale populations in the Indian Ocean to five," Rogers added, indicating that the region is a hotspot for the subspecies.

According to Rogers, these discoveries "would not have been achievable" without acoustic investigations.

The work was published in the journal Scientific Reports on April 22.

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