Echolocation

What is Echolocation?

Echolocation refers to an ability that killer whales possess that enables them to locate and discriminate objects by projecting high-frequency sound waves and listening for echoes.  Killer whales echolocate by producing clicking sounds and then receiving and interpreting the resulting echo.  Each click a killer whale makes lasts less than one millisecond. Echolocation allows ocean life such as killer whales to determine size, shape, speed, distance, direction, and even some of the internal structure of objects in the water.

Clicks include a wide range of frequencies, with most energy in the range of 10 to 80 kHz. A 25-kHz peak is common, but individuals can probably vary the peak frequency to suit the circumstances. High frequency sounds do not travel far in water.  Because of their longer wavelength and greater energy, low frequency sounds travel farther. Sound waves travel through water at a speed of about 1.5 km/sec (0.9 mi/sec), which is four-and-a-half times as fast as sound traveling through air.  The sound waves produced by a killer whale bounce off objects in the water and return to the killer whale in the form of an echo.

Echolocation is very useful at night and in deep or muddy water, where there is very little light.

Killer Whales finding food

Killer whales can find their way under the ocean and hunt for their food without using their eyes, instead they use the Echolocation system described above. They make clicking sounds and then listen to the echoes bouncing back. The echoes may come from seabed, other whales, other killer whales, the underside of a boat, and other ocean life such as fish and squid.