by Tess Boardman

Created on: July 14, 2009   Last Updated: July 15, 2009

Whale song. It reverberates deep within us with their long notes reminiscent of the sounds ceremonial conch shell. Connecting us to the music of the spheres, these songs of the humpback whale are actually love songs to attract a mate or challenges to would-be suitors. Scientists are still working to uncover the mysteries of humpback whale songs.

Once thought to be loose, unconnected sounds, researchers have founds that the males will sing the same song during mating season. It begins simply, but over time the males improve upon it, each trying to outdo the other to attract the female. There is a structure to the sounds that translates into a grammar system less complex than that of humans, but capable of communicating to others. Primarily, these whales sing during the six month mating season; however, their songs can be heard during migration and in feeding grounds.

US Navy ships in the 1950s were the first to record these magnificent sounds, but it wasn't known until the 1960s that the songs could be attributed to the humpback whale.

According to a study published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,whale songs are divided into packets of information using short and long phrases. Some phrases can last up to twenty hours, with layers known as periodicities. Short ones have six units and longer ones contain between 180 and 400 units. This was discovered by breaking down the humpback whale songs into mathematical coding and then analyzed by computer.

The units or periodicites combine into phrases and compose the theme of the song. The frequency of the sounds vary and sound in low, long notes or higher pitched squeaks and tweets. It has been found that regardless of the distance between the whales, whether in Japan, Hawaii, or Mexico, the Northern Pacific humpback whales all sing the same pattern of song. The humpback whales in the South Pacific will sing a different song than their northern neighbors.

These songs do evolve over time, with variations introduced with the new breeding seasons. This is a slow process, but sometimes the patterns and song will change in as quickly as two years. The reasons for the changes in the songs has not been discovered.

Interestingly, the female of the humpback whales does not sing. Only males produce these songs that vary between eight and thirty minutes long. During a song session, the male may repeat the song several times, remaining stationary, often in a head-down position.

Singing until they spy a group of whales, they will join a group if a potential mate is there. Sometimes, the singer is approached by another male. He will cease his song while he interacts with the joiner, then one or the other may resume the song after their greeting.

A few thoughts on the purpose and intent of whale songs are:

- Songs are intended to attract females

- Songs show a readiness to battle

- The song may induce physiological changes in the females to be ready to breed

- The singer may be a signal showing breeding activity, migratory information, or information about the singer.

The meanings of the humpback whale's song may never be understood by humans. However, the structure of the deep sound and high squeaks show a level of communication by these majestic animals.

Sources:

http://www.oceanmammalinst.com/ourresearch.html

http://www.livescience.com/animals/060322_whale_gram mar.html

http://whaletrust.org/whales/whale_song.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sou nd-waves-silence-whale-song

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