![]() ![]() So for us to understand something that's going on inside a large whale, we need to look at a recently deceased body (a whale that's died naturally). “You can't do an X-ray on a humpback whale or an MRI – we can’t keep them in captivity. " How can whales actually sing?Īs with many facets of whale song, the biological mechanisms humpbacks use to produce their vocalisations aren’t completely understood. They'll get together every year in similar locations to forage together. Whales in southeast Alaska will maintain relationships for decade. “Whales are social on a scale that is difficult for the human eye to perceive. They're just calling back and forth as if to say ‘I am here and there you are.’” ![]() ![]() And in fact, what we find is they call back. “It isn't necessarily because they want to get together. But they can communicate for four kilometres,” explains Fournet. The whales in Alaska can’t see more than 10 metres from themselves. If a humpback wants to know if other animals are around, they have to produce a sound. “A whale that makes no sound is functionally not there to the other animals. How does human noise affect ocean life?īut while not all humpbacks sing, most will make more general smaller growling noises to make contact with nearby whales.Why are more whales and dolphins beaching?.This is really not normal in the animal kingdom.” “We’ve tracked multiple song revolutions spreading across the South Pacific Ocean basin, showing how this incredible widespread cultural change happens really rapidly. Or a new pop song comes available and everyone is suddenly listening to it. “Our best analogy at the moment is human fashion, where a new look comes about and everyone switches. And all males are incorporating these changes into their own song as populations come into contact with each other. She adds: “The song itself is continually evolving, continually changing through time – being passed from one population to the next. It’s like knowing how each of the stars fit within time using just your ears." And somehow whales decipher an acoustic world where the past and present arrive all at once. Sounds constantly arrive from different spaces and times. As Garland explains in Fathom: "Underwater, sounds can take half an hour to bend around the horizon. There's another layer of complexity to this web of noise. Incredibly, these phrases and themes can change as whales from different parts of the world socialise, creating an acoustic network. Made up of a number of noises that form ‘phrases’, these are repeated again and again to create what’s known as ‘themes'. Or they could be a multi-message signal ,” says Garland.Īs she explains, the songs themselves are incredibly complex. But it could be part of male-male competition, or to attract a mate. “We don't know the exact function of the songs at this point. However, it’s only the males that truly sing. Even neonate whales – those less than a month old – have been known to make vocalisations recognisable to the human ear. Why do whales sing?Īll humpback whales – males and females, can make social calls from a young age. To dive into the biggest questions of whale social vocalisation, we sat down with Dr Michelle Fournet and Dr Ellen Garland, whose revolutionary research on humpback communication takes centre stage in the new Apple TV documentary Fathom (now available to watch). However, ground-breaking new research has monitored how songs have spread and evolved throughout the South Pacific, revealing a sprawling age-old acoustic community that may connect whales worldwide – and help them form life-long relationships. While many of their vocalisations can last over 30 minutes, the mammals can repeat these for many hours (the longest known recording of a whale song is a staggering 22 hours).īut what's the purpose of these noises? At the moment, experts have yet to form a complete understanding. Not only do these extraordinary animals – who can reach 30,000kg in weight – have a phenomenal acoustic range, but they can also sustain their singing over huge periods. If you stopped reading this and sang as loud as you could, how far do you think that noise would travel? The answer, if you're a humpback whale: tens of kilometres. How humpback whales communicate through a hidden global network of song
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |