The bowhead whales, these incredible singers

camillesteemer (12)in #animalphotography • 6 years ago

The bowhead whales, these incredible singers

Nathalie Mayer
Journalist

Birds sing when spring arrives. The cicadas sing throughout the summer. And the bowhead whales, meanwhile, sing in the middle of winter. But the most surprising is revealed by a recent study: their repertoire is surprisingly diverse and changes every year.

The bowhead whale is an unusual animal for more than one reason. She can live up to 200 years . And she presents the longest baleen. She is even able to break the ice. But that's not all. Recordings made by researchers at the University of Washington (USA) reveal to us today that it is also one of the most prolific composers and performers in the animal world.

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No less than 184 different melodies recorded in four years

"When we immersed our hydrophones - in the east of Greenland, in the Fram Strait - we were hoping to hear some sounds ," says Kate Stafford, an oceanographer at the University of Washington. Finally, we recorded bowhead whales that sang powerfully, 24 hours a day, from November to April. And they sang not only a lot, but also a lot of different songs. In four years, no less than 184 melodies have been recorded.

Remember that for marine mammals , sounds are of paramount importance. They help them to orient themselves, to find their food or to communicate. But the only other whales that can sing complex melodies are the humpback whales . "Bowhead whales prefer the freer sounds of jazz," Kate Stafford says.

On this map, the place where bowhead songs were recorded by hydrophones moored under the surface of the water. The place is only accessible by boat at the end of the summer. © Kate Stafford, University of Washington

Many questions remain unresolved

The researchers imagine that the songs of the bowhead whales betray a way of their own to seduce. But many questions remain unresolved. Are males the only ones to sing as is the case with humpback whales ? And above all, why so much diversity in the repertoire?

According to the researchers, bowhead whales could, like some birds - cowbirds or sturgeons - move from one song to another, as this variety would simply offer them an evolutionary advantage. "There is necessarily a reason," notes Kate Stafford.

Unfortunately, bowhead whales have chosen to sing in the heart of the polar winter , when the sun never rises and ice covers almost the entire sea. Conditions that make studies difficult. Especially as the species living in the North Atlantic is in critical danger of extinction . There would not be much more than 200 individuals left today.

What you must remember

North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered.
Recordings reveal that these same whales sing throughout the winter.
And like humpback whales, they are able to invent complex melodies.
But researchers still do not know why bowhead whales are changing their repertoire every year.

Source: futura-sciences.com
This post as well as its images are released under a CC BY 4.0 License