Why do Whales Sing? (2024)

FAQs

Why do Whales Sing? ›

Whales make noise to communicate, locate food, and find each other. A humpback whale in the singing position. Whales are very social creatures that travel in groups called “pods.” They use a variety of noises to communicate and socialize with each other.

A whale will typically repeat the same phrase over and over for two to four minutes. This is known as a theme. A collection of themes is known as a song. The whale song will last up to 30 or so minutes, and will be repeated over and over again over the course of hours or even days.

Marine mammals, including whales, use underwater sound as their primary way to communicate and assess their environment. Sound is critical for communication, and important for navigation, finding food, and avoiding predators. A whale's soundscape contains a multitude of melodies.

When male humpback whales sing in their winter breeding areas, scientists agree that song likely plays a role in mating behavior.

Whale song is restricted to a narrow frequency that overlaps with the noise produced by ships. "Sound is absolutely crucial for their survival, because it's the only way they can find each other to mate in the ocean," explained Prof Coen Elemans, of the University of Southern Denmark, who led the study.

Whales make noise to communicate, locate food, and find each other. A humpback whale in the singing position. Whales are very social creatures that travel in groups called “pods.” They use a variety of noises to communicate and socialize with each other.

They are one of the loudest animals on the planet, but they vocalize in the infrasonic frequency range (too low for humans to hear). But the cool thing about blue whales is that recorders can pick them up hundreds of miles away from where the animal is vocalizing.

Only the males are known to sing, although both males and females sound certain social calls while they're feeding, and calves make other calls when they're near their mothers. The humpback's haunting songs are among the most complex animal vocalizations.

It is one of Earth's loudest sounds in the ocean: the “singing” of whales. Now scientists think they have an idea of how baleen whales do it. They say the large air-breathing sea animals use a special voice box that enables them to make sound underwater. Scientists say the discovery is based on a very small study.

Humpback whales are by nature mostly gentle and non-aggressive animals, so it is very unlikely for them to do any harm to a human. They are however very large and curious and will sometimes approach boats.

Can whales sing underwater? ›

Scientists have discovered new insights into baleen whales' anatomy that may also make them vulnerable to human noise pollution. Humpback whales are known for their magical songs, which likely serve to communicate with others and attract potential mates.

Whales call during dives; whilst holding their breath, and with their mouths closed. Calling is essential for these highly social animals; this is evident because independently both baleen and toothed whales have evolved new ways to produce and transmit sound in the sea.

Reiss said she thinks we will never be able to understand what the clicks mean to another whale, but understanding "what the clicks mean enough to predict their behaviour" would in itself "be an amazing achievement."

The songs can last up to 20 minutes, and can be heard more than 20 miles away. The male may repeat the same song dozens of times over several hours, and whales in the same geographic area sing in very similar “dialects.” Song patterns can change gradually over time, so that new songs emerge every few years.

The humpback song, which is made up of repeated themes, can last for up to 30 minutes and some humpbacks sing for hours at a time! Only the males sing and all male humpbacks in the same region sing the same song. The song itself changes over time, making it different from year to year.

Humpback whale songs are among the longest and most complex vocalizations made by any ani- mal. Underwater acoustic monitoring in Glacier Bay National Park since May 2000 has revealed that humpback whales sing much more frequently in the late summer and early fall than previously believed.

Toothed whales, like sperm whales and dolphins, use their larynges like a cork to seal their airways; they evolved a way to produce sounds in their nasal cavities instead. But scientists suspected that filter-feeding baleen whales, including the musical humpbacks and the huge blue whales, still use their voice boxes.