‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented

243 points · 192 comments · wglb

  1. SapporoChris · · focus · HN ↗
    "She remained with it for several hours and possibly even days." Interesting article, but that comment veers into speculation. Speculation diminishes the value of a scientific article.
    1. Laakeri · · focus · HN ↗
      I'd say it instead makes it more precise, indicating that they are uncertain but the range is from several hours to days.
      1. officehero · · focus · HN ↗
        But they need to explain why the range is so large. Did they witness whales at the site on day 2? It's unnecessarily ambiguous.
        1. bell-cot · · focus · HN ↗
          The article calls the data an &quot;observation&quot;, made by the captain of a Rescue Boat from Sea World Foundation. From a peek at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;seaworldfoundation.com.au&#x2F;rescue" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;seaworldfoundation.com.au&#x2F;rescue it seems clear that their job is rescue, not research.

          Keeping even a small boat at sea is not cheap - the default for pretty much every observation at sea, ever, is that the witnesses did not stick around to see anything beyond what they reported.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.