A newly compiled catalogue of sounds can identify killer whales by their calls, Mirage News reported on Tuesday, 29 September 2026.
According to Mirage News, the catalogue works by matching the vocalisations of the animals to individual whales. The report describes the catalogue as new, and presents call identification as its central function.
The details available so far are limited to that description. Mirage News did not, in the material available, set out how many calls the catalogue holds, which populations of killer whales it covers, or who compiled it.
The report points to a wider line of work in which sound is used to tell individual marine mammals apart. Killer whales are highly vocal, and a catalogue of this kind is intended to link a given call to a specific animal rather than to the species as a whole.
Such a tool, if it performs as described, would let observers identify whales from audio alone. That matters for research and monitoring at sea, where the animals are often heard before, or instead of, being seen.
Mirage News framed the catalogue as a means of identification by call, without stating where it will be used or how it will be shared.
More information on the catalogue's scope, its coverage and its intended users is likely to follow.
