Whale Song The function of song. Recordings of humpback whale song from Hawaii, a “feeding sound” used by humpbacks in Alaska, and a synthesized artificial sound were played back to humpback whales in Hawaii from an underwater speaker deployed from a 5-m-long outboard boat (Mobley, Herman & Frankel, 1988). Whales entering an area of approximately 6 km extent were targeted with one of these sounds and their responses observed from an elevated shore station employing a high precision theodolite. Observers on shore had no knowledge of which sound was being played. Over two-winter seasons, only two whales approached the boat in response to song. In contrast, about 20% of the whales exposed to the feeding sound charged toward the boat at high speed and then swam away after inspecting the speaker. Those whose genders were identified were males. Hence, the results of this study do not support the contention that song serves to attract females to the male singer. Songs in different North Pacific wintering grounds. The structure of humpback song was compared from three different North Pacific wintering grounds: Mexico, Hawaii, and Japan. Three themes were common to all three areas. There was additional overlap of themes between Hawaii and Mexico and, independently, between Hawaii and Japan. The findings suggest some acoustic contact between whales in these three areas, but some independence as well (Helweg, Herman, Yamamoto & Forestell, 1990). Spacing of singers in the winter grounds. Using a three-hydrophone array to localize the source of underwater sounds, we studied the movements and spacing of singing humpback whales off the Big Island of Hawaii (Frankel, Clark, Herman & Gabriele, 1995). Singers were separated from one another by an average distance of 5.1 km. This was a significantly greater distance than that between nonsinging single animals, supporting the hypothesis that singing serves in part to maintain distance between singers. Some singers actively swam while singing and some continued singing after affiliating with or being joined by other whales. Click here to hear a humpback whale sing. Frankel, A. S., Clark, C. W., Herman, L. M. & Gabriele, C. M. (1995). Spatial distribution, habitat utilization, and social interactions of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, off Hawaii, determined using acoustic and visual techniques. Canadian Journal of Zoology 73, 1134-1146. Helweg, D. A., Herman, L. M., Yamamoto, S., and Forestell, P. H. (1990).Comparison of songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) recorded in Japan, Hawaii, and Mexicoduring the winter of 1989. Scientific Reports of Cetacean Research 1, 1-20. Mobley, J. R., Jr., Herman, L. M., and Frankel, A. S. (1988). Responses of wintering humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) to playback of recordings of winter and summer vocalizations and synthetic sound. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 23, 211-223. Back to Top Dolphin Programs | Whale Programs | Education Programs | Our Research | Resource Guide Copyright © 2002, The Dolphin Institute |
