I can't wait to get this book, it looks great! I have read the extract from the Jacqueline Wilson magazine so I am already part way into the book!" As she explains, the songs themselves are incredibly complex. Made up of a number of noises that form ‘phrases’, these are repeated again and again to create what’s known as ‘themes'.

So it is no surprise the military realised they could learn a thing or two from dolphins about how to use sound underwater. Military scientists in four countries – the US, Russia, Iran and the Ukraine – have all worked with dolphins: one, to study how they echolocate in the hopes of designing better submarines and sonar detectors. And, two, to train them to listen for approaching submarines, reveal the location of buried explosive devices underwater, and uncover the identity of suspicious objects. Inadvertently, military research led to biological enlightenment and conservation movements. Dolphins in the militaryI normally love Jacqueline Wilson, but I was disappointed with The Longest Whale Song. It seemed like a book to fill her contract, to be honest. Ella is very hard to like, and I think this is her worst ever book." Because low frequency sounds travel further with less scattering, distortion and transmission loss, baleen whales can communicate to each other over enormous distances – thousands of kilometres.

Professor Wenwu Cao in the Department of Mathematics at Penn State Materials Research Institute published a study last year in the journal Physical Review Applied describing how porpoises can use the oily material in their heads (described as a 'meta material') to create narrow beams of sound instead of regular sound waves that travel in all directions. There are other anatomical quirks , as referenced in a UCL blog, that make the cetacean auditory equipment so unique: the tympanic membrane is shaped like a cone and projects into the bulla, rather than stretched flat like a drum across the opening to the ear canal as in our own species. “In a baleen whale, the membrane is like a big flag flapping around on a flag pole, while in dolphins it’s more rigid, like a tuning fork,” says Prof Clark. This book is great! I loved the facts about all the different whales, although the book is sad in many parts. I would have also liked there to have been a few more chapters!" When reading the book, I could feel myself warming towards Ella immediately. I found the story touching and I found myself going on a great journey! I would highly recommend it!"

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I didn't really think I'd enjoy it, but I got given it for a present and it was a lot better than I expected. The storyline was typical of Jacqueline Wilson and like all her books, there was something unique in it." Put everything together, and cetaceans are equipped with an evolutionarily distinct apparatus that allows them to perceive and utilize sounds unlike any other group of animals on earth. While humans can hear sounds ranging from 20Hertz (Hz) to 20,000Hz, bottlenose dolphins can hear up to 160,000Hz – beyond the range of dogs, famously sensitive to high pitches we cannot hear: they tap out at 44,000Hz. All creatures on earth use sound waves to some degree, but toothed whales are the sonic masters of the upper registers of the animal kingdom. It’s all about that bass Baleen whales use this channel not just for communicating with each other, but also for navigating, by listening to the echoes of their calls bouncing off distant ocean shelves and coastlines, creating mental maps of the ocean. All humans have been doing for the past 70 years developing sonar detection equipment, really, is learning from cetaceans about how they do what they do, and trying to figure out how to use our own sonar systems in a similar way to what they have been doing for millions of years,” he says. Sound travels faster and further in water You can see how echolocation would evolve if you’re in a dark environment like a cave or the deep ocean – there are in fact many blind humans who have learned how to echolocate, and even normal sighted people can tell if they are in a huge chamber or a crowded room just by listening to the acoustics,” he says. “But while bats have a typical mammalian ear, cetaceans have a much more specialised system.” Evolving for sound

I do want to read the book, but my school does not have it and it is a bit pricey for me. So as anxious as I am to read it, I don't think I will have the opportunity for a very long time." Not only can baleen whales emit calls that travel farther than any other voice in the animal kingdom, these giants of the deep also create the loudest vocalisations of any creature on earth: the call of a blue whale can reach 180 decibels – as loud as a jet plane, a world record. The longest song of allThis book is full of exciting conflicts that you could never imagine. Ella has a lot of personality so you'll like it!" I love The Longest Wale Song because it's written by Jacqueline Wilson and it's amazing. I love it!" Jacqueline is one of the nation’s favourite authors, and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world. She has sold millions of books and in the UK alone the total now stands at over 35 million! They accomplish this through an ingenious tactic: making their calls within something called the 'deep sound channel', also known as the SOFAR channel (for Sound Fixing and Ranging channel). Due to the physical properties of the ocean, sound waves diminish in volume rapidly close to the surface, but at varying depths below the surface, depending on latitude, sound waves suffer little transmission loss and increase in the speed at which they travel. The song that travels for miles While apes are renowned for their colour vision, and humans like to think of themselves as visual creatures, cetaceans have no use for expensive ocular equipment. Instead, they have evolved some of the most distinct, complex and unique acoustic anatomy and behaviour on earth. Cetaceans see and feel with sound.

At school, her best friend starts to drift away and moody Martha starts a fight with Ella after a lot of nasty talk about Ella's mum. Ella though soon makes friends with Joseph and Toby whom are in her class, all the teachers are nice to her as well. I read this and thought it was really good! Some bits could have been a bit longer, but overall it was a very good read!" For 15 years, the navy kept the knowledge of whale songs a secret, until in 1967 engineer Frank Watlington gave recordings of the songs to biologist Roger Payne, who was a specialist in bat and owl vocalisations. Watlington had discovered that the whale songs consisted of a series of phrases that would be repeated perfectly, over and over.This is typical of a Jacqueline Wilson book, but as usual, unique and lovely. There is something with every book Wilson writes that makes you want to never stop. As always this book has it." It's at school, her teacher gets her involved in whales and the topic fascinates her so much that she creates a while book fully illustrated by her which she's extremely proud of, she even later discovers the longest song by a whale and plays it to her mum to try and stir her in the hospital. I quite liked this book, but it was kind of confusing because there are so many things going on! I think Jacqueline Wilson could do a bit better. But I am still her number one fan!"