The get naked species.

"Which species would you get naked for?" A question that I was once asked, and too which in a moment of madness, made possible after 2 weeks of surveying in the Scotia Sea without seeing any life, I foolishly replied the blue whale. In my defence I wasn't thinking straight, my mind befuddled by 3 weeks of early starts and long days battling the elements; but somewhere along the way I had also agreed that I wouldn't just get naked for a blue whale, but I'd run naked around the ship. Believe me, I really wasn't thinking straight, because the ship in question was the James Clark Ross (100m plus), the probability of seeing a blue whale was high, and it was autumn in the southern hemisphere so the whales were not going to be the only blue mammals on show. Fortuitously for me, and more importantly for the crew of the JCR, we sailed into a blizzard just as we were approaching a series of unidentified spouts on the horizon.

That was April 2005 and I still haven't seen a blue whale, but the idea of a get naked species has stuck. It makes for an interesting topic of conversation over dinner, and each person I've asked has a different species and a different reason. Blue whale, tiger, oceanic white tipped shark, southern right whale dolphin, gorilla, snow leopard, otter ..... etc., etc. and so the list goes on.

Why the blue whale when I could have chosen the Baji, possibly still alive in 2005, or the Vaquita, which I was lucky enough to both see and record in 2008. Good question! Perhaps it is because blue whales are the largest animal on the planet, yet we know so little about them. Perhaps it is because I've made recordings of blue whale "song" in north east Atlantic and wondered about the animals that could sing at such such low frequencies. In case you were wondering some blue whale calls go down to 10Hz, if you had excellent hearing and hadn't attended too many rock concerts when you were young you might be able hear down to 20Hz. Really impressive when you think about it. Anyway for better or for worse blue whales and I have at date with destiny, but fortunately for everyone here that special day has yet to arrive.

So, which species would you get naked for? Answers on a postcard to ...........