Study links whale songs with specific behavior

Humpback whales in the Northwest Atlantic. Credit: NEFSC/NOAA

Humpback whales breaching in the Northwest Atlantic. Photo courtesy NEFSC/NOAA.

Acoustic research breakthroughs could help inform conservation efforts

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Breakthrough software is enabling scientists to better analyze humpback whale songs. For the first time, researchers have provided the a detailed description linking humpback whale movements to acoustic behavior on a feeding ground in the Northwest Atlantic.

“We have monitored and acoustically recorded whale sounds for years, and are now able to ‘mine’ these data using new computer software applications and methods, “ said Sofie Van Parijs, who heads the passive acoustics group at the Woods Hole Laboratory of NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. (more…)

Whale culture: Singing a different tune

Study sheds light on Indian Ocean humpback whales

Humpback whales are slowly recovering from near extinction and new research on Indian Ocean populations may help inform conservation efforts. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —Humpback whales on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean are singing different songs, a team of marine biologists say, explaining that that their findings are unusual because humpbacks in the same ocean usually all sing very similar tunes.

The differences in song between the Indian Ocean humpback populations most likely indicate a limited exchange between the two regions and may shed new light on how whale culture spreads. (more…)

Research pinpoints humpback whale numbers

A humpback whale shows its fluke off Hawaii. An individual's fluke has distinctive markings and coloration. PHOTO COURTESY HIHWNMS NOAA Fisheries Permit #782-1438.

Population continues rebound from decimation of the whaling era

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —After photographing and cataloguing more than 18,000 whale flukes, researchers say they’ve been able to make an accurate estimate of humpback whale numbers in the North Pacific.

This new research indicates the population to be more that 21,000 and possibly even higher — a significant improvement to the scant 1,400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966.

Photographing the whale’s tails is a key part of the inventory because the unique pigmentation patterns on the flukes are like a fingerprint. Scientists determined population numbers by comparing photographs taken in northern feeding grounds (around the Pacific Rim from California to Kamchatka) compared with matches of the same animals in the warm tropical waters of southern breeding areas, as far as 3,000 miles away. (more…)

U.S. and France partner to protect humpback whales

A humpback whale in the Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

Sister sanctuary agreement will promote joint conservation and research efforts

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Whales are among the world’s great migrating species, so efforts to protect the cetaceans requires international cooperation like the new sister sanctuary agreement signed recently by the U.S. and France that will hep protect endangered humpback whales in the Atlantic.

Some of the humpbacks migrate 3,000 miles between the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay and the Agoa Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the Caribbean’s French Antilles. (more…)

Humpback whale songs spread across oceans

Researchers say their study shows cultural transmission not unique to humans

Humpback whale songs are shared among populations worldwide. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Humpback whale songs change over time, and move across oceans in distinctive patterns, according to Australian researchers, who recently published their findings in the online journal, Current Biology.

At any given time within a population, male humpbacks all sing the same mating tune. But as the pattern changes, catchy versions of the song spread across the ocean, almost always traveling from west to east.

“Our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale,” said researchers Ellen Garland. Multiple songs moved like “cultural ripples from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version.” This is the first time that such broad-scale and population-wide cultural exchange has been documented in any species other than humans, Garland added. Listen to some humpback whale songs documented by the researchers here. (more…)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 5,731 other followers