humpback whales, songs of
Although all toothed whales and dolphins generate a wide variety of vocalizations, the most extraordinary range and complexity of sounds are produced by the humpback whales. The mournful calls of these cetaceans can be heard for hours at a stretch in the winter breeding grounds of the Caribbean and Hawaii. Elaborate phrases, each a slightly different length, are repeated over and over again. Within one season, all humpbacks from the same area sing broadly the same song that evolves over time. Part of a song may change rapidly for several months and then remain unchanged while other parts are modified. After about 8 years, an entirely new song appears. How much information the whales exchange via their calls is still unknown, but there have been some intriguing suggestions. In 1999, John Buck and Ryuji Suzuki of the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, claimed they had found evidence for a hierarchical grammar like that of human language in the humpbacks' songs; other researchers, however, remain skeptical.
Related categories
• EXTRATERRESTRIAL AND NON-HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
• SCIENTIFIC MYSTERIES
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Unweaving the song of whales (Mar 4, 2005)
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