All articles tagged with #whale song
A single hydrophone 891 meters deep in Monterey Canyon collected six years of continuous whale-song data, showing humpback songs climbed from 34% to 76% of days while blue whale songs dipped during and after a marine heat wave—reflecting prey-driven, species-specific foraging responses and illustrating how long-term acoustic monitoring can serve as an ocean-health indicator.
Scientists have discovered how baleen whales, such as humpbacks, produce their haunting songs using a specialized "voice box" that recycles air and prevents water from being inhaled. This discovery also explains why human-made ocean noise disrupts whale communication, as their songs overlap with ship noise. The study provides crucial insight for the conservation of these endangered giants of the sea and sheds light on the evolutionary adaptations that enabled whales to communicate underwater.
Roger Payne, the scientist who discovered that whales could sing, has died at the age of 88. His discovery of whale song led to a global movement to end commercial whale hunting and save the animals from extinction. Payne founded Ocean Alliance in 1971 to advocate for the protection of whales and dolphins, and played a role in the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the commercial whaling moratorium. His album "Songs of the Humpback Whale" remains the best-selling environmental album in history.