by Sabrina Grey

Created on: July 02, 2009

Beautiful, breathtaking, or even ghostlike is how some may describe the song of a Humpback whale. For centuries sailors heard their unique and fairy-tale like song not knowing exactly who was the creator. Only in the 1960's did scientists first associate the eerie tune with Humpback whales. In 1971, Dr. Roger Payne and Scott McVay published the first technical description of the humpback's melody.

Since 1971, we have learned a great deal about their songs. They sing to each other as a navigation tool to make their way across the ocean during migration, males sing to attract females, and they sing during their feeding season in the summer. Humpbacks repeat short and long phrases multiple times to sing long songs that may last up to 30 minutes. Their songs range from high-pitched squeals to low bellows.

Both males and females can sing songs, but only the males can sing songs that are organized.

One fascinating fact about the whale's song is that it will gradually transform over a number of years to finally be replaced by a new song that has evolved. Even though the song may change entirely, every singer in the North Pacific (separated by thousands of miles) may sing vertically the same identical song. Only whales in separate oceans like the South Pacific Ocean and North Pacific Ocean have songs that differ from one another. When a new whale joins a group the other whales change their song to sound more like the new whales' melody.

"Although whale song is nothing like human language, I wouldn't be surprised if some marine mammals have the ability to communicate in a complex way. Given that the underwater environment is very different from our world, it is not surprising that they would communicate in rather a different way from land mammals."

The sounds that the whales rely on so much, as their means of communication, can travel four times faster in water compared to in the air. Whales cannot sing above the water because the sound does not have anything to vibrate off of unlike in water. When whales are above water you can hear the sound that comes from their blowholes; the sound that is made is called the trumpet.

Still, in their songs sits a sense of mystery. Even though scientists have studied and researched the whales' songs, they still do not understand what the information is and to whom each whale is speaking to.

Here is a link to listen to the whales' songs: Click

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