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In a 1971 paper published in Science, biologist Roger Payne, then at Rockefeller University, and Scott McVay, then an administrator at Princeton University, described the “surprisingly beautiful sounds” made by humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae; Science, 173:585-97). Analyzing underwater recordings made by a Navy engineer, the duo found that these whale sounds were intricately repetitive. “Because one of the characteristics of bird songs is that they are fixed patterns of sounds that are repeated, we call the fixed patterns of humpback sounds ‘songs,’” they wrote.
OCEAN SONGS: Humpback whales make diverse, broadband sounds that travel miles through the ocean. Their function, however, remains somewhat murky.PLOS ONE, dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0079422, 2013 It’s now clear that, in addition to simpler calls, several baleen whale species—including blue, fin, and bowhead—make series of sounds known as song. Humpback song is the most complex and by far the best studied. Units of humpback songs form phrases, series of similar phrases form themes, and multiple themes form songs. All the males in a given population sing the same song, which evolves over time. When whale groups come into contact, songs can spread. (See “Peter Tyack: Marine Mammal Communications,” The Scientist, June 2016.)
But why do whales sing? “The short answer is, we don’t know,” says Alison Stimpert, a bioacoustician at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California. Humpback songs are only performed by males and are often heard on breeding grounds, so the dominant hypothesis is that these songs are a form of courtship. The quality of a male’s performance could be a sign of his fitness, for example. But female whales do not tend to approach singing ...
