The Grandest of Lives:

Eye to Eye with Whales

Douglas H. Chadwick
Sierra Club Books, 2008 - 288 pages
link

The largest creatures ever to inhabit the Earth, whales have long inspired awe in humans. But because
they spend virtually all of their time beneath the ocean surface, little has been known about their lives.
Now, with advances in technology, new facts and stunning discoveries are coming to light about these
magnificent mammals. In "The Grandest of Lives," wildlife biologist Douglas H. Chadwick takes readers
inside the world of modern-day scientific whale observation, from gathering data to weathering storms to
spirited scientific debate. Chadwick, who has followed and reported on whales for more than a decade,
paints detailed portraits of five species -- the humpback, northern bottlenose, blue whale, minke whale,
and orca -- that represent a cross-section of the forms and behaviors of cetaceans worldwide. All move
seamlessly between natural history and more personal observations, vividly expressing Chadwick's
fondness and admiration for these amazing creatures, as well as the sheer joy of being among them.

From Publishers Weekly (amazon)

Wildlife biologist Chadwick's fascination with whales began when he found himself floating nose to nose
with an inquisitive humpback off the coast of Maui. Since that heady experience, he has traveled the seas
with whale researchers, becoming ever more enchanted with these great mammals. In this compelling
book, he records what he has learned and observed of five whale species, including the humpback,
described by Melville as "the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the whales"; the bottlenose, an
exceptionally intelligent whale that can dive to great depths; and the orca, misnamed the "killer" whale,
a very social whale that does not attack humans. As he observes the whales' habits and listens to the
sounds they use to communicate with each other, Chadwick (The Fate of the Elephant) struggles to
remain objective. But this is difficult. Whales have such a complex assortment of lifestyles, cultures
and social relationships, it's hard to avoid anthropomorphizing them, especially since they seem to be
as curious about humans as humans are about them. The author's enthusiasm for these extraordinary
creatures effectively draws the reader into the whales' underwater environment and makes a powerful
case for increased efforts to preserve that environment.

Preview
Dolphin Mysteries:
Unlocking the Secrets of Communication

Kathleen M. Dudzinski, Toni Frohoff, Marc Bekoff

Yale University Press, 2010 - 256 pages

link

Dolphins have fascinated humans for millennia, giving rise to an abundance of stories and myths about
them, yet the actual details of their lives in the sea have remained elusive. In this enthralling book,
Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff take us into the dolphins’ aquatic world to witness firsthand how
they live their lives, communicate, and interact with one another and with other species, including people.

Kathleen M. Dudzinski and Toni Frohoff are scientists who have collectively dedicated more than 40
years to studying dolphins beneath the ocean’s surface, frequently through a close-up underwater lens.
Drawing on their own experiences and on up-to-the-minute research, the authors show that dolphins are
decidedly not just members of a group but distinct individuals, able to communicate with one another and
with humans. Dudzinski and Frohoff introduce a new way of looking at, and listening to, the vocabulary
of dolphins in the sea, and they even provide an introductory “dolphin dictionary,” listing complex social
signals that dolphins use to share information among themselves and with people. Unveiling an intimate
and scientifically accurate portrait of dolphins, this book will appeal to everyone who has wanted a closer
glimpse into the hearts and minds of these amazing creatures.
Between species:
celebrating the dolphin-human bond

Toni Frohoff, Brenda Peterson

Sierra Club Books, 2003 - Juvenile Nonfiction - 361 pages

link

Dolphins and humans have always been curious about each other, and since ancient times the kinship
between our species has been celebrated across cultures and continents in myth, art, literature, and
science. Only recently, however, have we gone beyond our own view of this interspecies connection and
begun to ask: What might this bond look like from the dolphins' perspective?

Now, Between Species brings together for the first time eminent scientists and gifted writers to help
shed light on this intriguing question. Edited by wildlife researcher Toni Frohoff and nature writer Brenda
Peterson, the text selections range from tales of transforming dolphin encounters to views on how to
protect cetaceans and their habitats, and from poems honoring dolphins to provocative critiques of swim-
with-the-dolphins programs and acoustic pollution. Pieces include Diane Ackerman's essay on "deep
play" with a wild dolphin; Marc Bekoff's ethical questions concerning our intrusion in dolphins' lives; and
the late Dr. John Lilly's call for a "Cetacean Nation."

This groundbreaking anthology not only explores the depths and beauty of the dolphin-human bond
but encourages new generations to respect the complexities and responsibilities inherent in such
interspecies kinship. Dolphins and humans have always been curious about each other, and since
ancient times the kinship between our species has been celebrated across cultures and continents in
myth, art, literature, and science. Only recently, however, have we gone beyond our own view of this
interspecies connection and begun to ask: What might this bond look like from the dolphins' perspective?
links!

meet the whales

gray whales

cetaceans

bc cetaceans

the evolution of whales

the oceania project

Whales, dolphins and porpoises

Whale communication and culture

science!

A Crude Awakening

Sperm Whales in the Gulf of Mexico

By Cloe Waterfield, Twentyfifty, for Conscious Breath Adventures

May 2010
Sperm whales are the largest of the world's toothed whales, have the biggest brain in the animal
kingdom, and can dive to nearly two miles.

Infamous as Moby Dick and also known as the cachalot (who was, ironically, caught a lot), is the
sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalis. They are the largest of the world’s toothed whales, have the
biggest brain in the animal kingdom and can dive to nearly two miles. In short, they are really cool!

Life is not so cool right now though for a resident population, numbering around 140, just off the mouth
of the Mississippi, where crude oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from a pipe ruptured when
the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 26th, 2010. As Gulf States prepare for clean up activities
on-shore and commence the census of shorebirds, turtles, fish, dolphins, invertebrates and plant
communities lost, we consider the sperm whale.

Their elusive, deep water nature means there is a lot we still don’t know. Recently, scientists confirmed
that whales in the northern Gulf were genetically and vocally distinct from other sperm whales. They
are slightly smaller and form smaller social groups. These whales are unique! They take advantage of
the pelagic food chain bonanza which spins off the rich waters pouring from the Mississippi, and deep
nutrient pulses which spiral up from the depths here, at a narrow zone in the Outer Continental Shelf.
Their turf is also, as we now painfully know; prime real estate in the petroleum business.

Oil and marine mammals do not mix. Both the oil and especially the dispersants, contain persistent toxic
chemicals that get dangerously concentrated higher up the food chain. Research on dolphins showed
that they can identify and swim away from heavy oil, but not a light sheen: about 4,000 square miles of
cetacean habitat in the Gulf is affected. Noxious fumes from the volatile, light fraction of crude oil will be
concentrated at the sea surface, and so in every breath.

White crosses show locations of 19 groups of whales in a 200-2001 survey. Red is the approximate
location of the incident.

The incident brings to the fore bigger issues associated with our thirst for oil. Drilling activities, and the
omnipresent search for new deposits, converge in the sperm whale’s deep water habitat. Like most
cetaceans, sperm whales navigate, feed and communicate using sound. It is cruelly coincidental that we
crudely copy their skill; hammering the seabed with pulses of sound waves to pick up the characteristic
echo of oil. The impact of this round-the-clock seismic exploration has been the focus of long term studies
to determine the effects on whales. The clicks and buzzes as a whale locates a soft bodied fish or squid
must surely be drowned out by us blasting through 5,000 feet of water deep into solid rock. Sound has
been implicated in strandings, hearing loss and tissue damage.

In 2008 a synthesis of six years of study on the impacts of seismic exploration on sperm whales was
published by the Minerals Management Service. Six years, 15 authors, 345 pages and 9 million dollars
and the results? Inconclusive. Is this a joke, perhaps you ask? Not at all. They did find out a lot about
our whales, but this industry-funded piece stated that they needed more research in order to give any
definitive conclusions.
Which begs the critical question – why is the fox guarding the henhouse? The Minerals Management
Service (U.S. Department of the Interior) grants permits to oil companies to drill. They are also
responsible for ensuring the activities are safe and to do so, dish out donations from oil companies
to various universities to carry out the research. So the outlook for sperm whales and other marine
mammals in the Gulf of Mexico is, fundamentally, at the mercy of what’s in the best interests of the oil
industry.

At least one U.S. senator, Bill Nelson, D-Fla, has, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon incident, called
for an investigation into the extent to which the oil industry has influenced the agency’s rulemaking
process. Two former directors of the agency have moved smoothly into leadership positions at an
organization called the National Oceans Industries Association. Its mission; "to secure reliable access
and a favorable regulatory and economic environment for the companies that develop the nation's
valuable offshore energy resources”.

For sperm whales and countless species in the northern Gulf of Mexico it might sadly be too late. For the
rest of us, let’s hope it’s a wake up call.

Key Facts:
● 28 species of cetaceans occur in the Gulf of Mexico, along with the West Indian Manatee.
● All are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
● Seven species, including the sperm whale, are further protected by the Endangered Species Act.
● There are thought to be around 1,665 sperm whales throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
● Very little is known about their deep water prey, which includes the giant squid.
● Males average 35 feet long, females 28 feet. Elsewhere males can reach 67 feet in length.
● They can live over 70 years.
● Social structures are complex: historically they were targeted by whalers because of their habit of
forming protective rings around calves.
● About 4,000 oil rigs dot the northern Gulf with 30 or so of them in depths of 5,000 of water.
Whales Might Be as Much Like People as Apes Are

By Brandon Keim
As the annual International Whaling Commission meeting stumbles to a close, unable to negotiate a
compromise between whaling opponents and people who’ve killed more than 40,000 whales since 1985,
scientists say these aquatic mammals are more than mere animals. They might even deserve to be
considered people.
Not human people, but as occupying a similar range on the spectrum as the great apes, for whom the
idea of personhood has moved from preposterous to possible. Chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos
possess self-awareness, feelings and high-level cognitive powers. According to a steadily gathering body
of research, so do whales and dolphins.
In fact, their capacities could be even more ancient than our own, dating to an evolutionary explosion in
brain size that took place millions of years before the last common ancestor of the great apes existed.
“If an alien came down anytime prior to about 1.5 million years ago to communicate with the ‘brainiest’
animals on Earth, they would have tripped over our own ancestors and headed straight for the oceans
to converse with the dolphins,” said Lori Marino, an evolutionary neurobiologist at the Yerkes National
Primate Research Center.
The idea of whale personhood makes all the more haunting the prospect that Earth’s cetaceans, many of
whom were hunted to the brink of extinction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are still threatened.
At the annual International Whaling Commission being held this week in Portugal, officials failed to curb
the continuing killing of some 1,000 whales every year, mostly by hunters from Japan, Norway and
Iceland. Many scientists say populations are still too fragile to support commercial hunting or, in the case
of Japan, “scientific research” that appears to kill an especially high number of pregnant females.
Mortality from hunting, however, may be the least of the whale’s worries. Industrial pollution has suffused
their bodies with heavy metals and toxins. Noise pollution drowns out the vocalizations on which whales
rely to find food and navigate. Overfishing punches holes in oceanic webs of life. Whales and dolphins
are also accidentally caught in nets and struck by ships.
Such collisions appear to be pushing the North Atlantic right whale to oblivion, and the IWC says that ship
strikes “should be reduced to zero as soon as possible.” But though the U.S. has set speed limits off its
northeast coast, the World Shipping Council has fought such measures internationally. It’s also possible
that Navy sonar tests, which may have caused mass beachings in the Bahamas, are to blame. The
U.S. Supreme Court has struck down restrictions on the tests. And though President Obama has noble
intentions on ocean policy, pollution and overfishing is a global problem.
In the midst of this, research has continued on whales and dolphins, which have long been difficult to
study. Whales can’t be kept in captivity. Scientists require expensive ships and tools that, despite their
sophistication, produce relatively low-resolution readings of whale life.
Most findings come from bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, sperm whales and humpback whales — the
species that scientists have painstakingly studied for a few decades, and now continue their work with
improved gene sequencing and song analysis tools. In these four species, scientists see considerable
social complexity and individual distinction. They talk of whales and dolphins in terms of cultures and
societies, and say cetaceans possess qualities of personhood. They say the same is likely true of other
species, who simply haven’t been studied yet.
“It’s only due to our lack of knowledge that humans remain this exclusive species,” said Shane Gero,
a Dalhousie University marine biologist. “We’re getting a lot of long-term studies in cetaceans, hitting
multiple generations, and we’re finally able to get at these questions.” Though there’s still more evidence
for primate than cetacean personhood, Gero said accumulating research “will start tipping the scales.”
Gero trained under Dalhousie University biologist Hal Whitehead, who started studying whales in 1977.
Researchers from his lab and that of St. Andrews University biologist Luke Rendell, another former
Whitehead student, have studied sperm whales around the world. They’re responsible for much of what’s
known about the whales’ social behavior, which involves wide variations in group formation, hunting and
child-rearing. Groups even appear to communicate in their own unique dialect.
“Based on what we know, I’d guess that cetacean culture is intermediate between humans and
chimpanzees. Not in material culture, but in most other respects,” said Whitehead.
Culture is an especially important measure of personhood in whales, since it’s difficult to administer the
sorts of tests that have found chimpanzees to be capable of basic math, altruism, laughter and complex
communication, the latter of which can be neurologically imaged in real-time.

But if cetaceans can’t take these tests, they have met one critical laboratory benchmark of higher
cognition: self-recognition. With Wildlife Conservation Society cognitive scientist Diana Reiss, Lori Marino
showed that bottlenose dolphins can use mirrors to investigate marks hidden on their bodies. “When they
look in the mirror, they’re saying, ‘That’s me,’” said Marino. “They have a sense of self through time.”
And in a much-celebrated first documented example of tool use in marine mammals, a family of dolphins
in Australia uses sponges to hunt.
Cetaceans even surpass most primates in their use of sound. “We’ve known for some time now that the
communication systems of these animals is more complex than we can imagine,” said Marino. “People
are starting to use some interesting statistical methods to look at their vocal repertoires, and they’re
finding structural complexity that suggests there may be something like grammar, syntax, even
language.”
Fueling the evolution of cetacean communication is an ability, observed in dolphins, humpback whales
and sperm whales, to pass songs and codas between generations and individuals.
“One of the ways in which dolphins are unusual among mammals is their ability to imitate sounds.
Most apes are barely able to modify the sounds that they make vocally, based on what they hear,” said
Peter Tyack, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. “To be able to learn sounds and
incorporate them is really important for human communication.”
According to Tyack, the individually distinctive calls of dolphins may even be equivalent to names. “That’s
an open research question,” he said.
In addition to cultural evidence, researchers who’ve studied cetacean brains — many of which are among
the largest in the animal kingdom — have found highly developed analogues to human structures.
Whale brains appear to have undergone massive growth about 30 million years ago, a process linked in
primates to the development of complex cognition and culture.
“The parts of the brain that are involved with processing emotion and social relationships are enormously
complex, and in many cetaceans even more highly elaborated than in the human brain,” said Marino. “If
we assume that the limbic system is doing what it’s doing in all mammals, then something very high-level
is going on.”
As for the nature of a whale’s inner life, it’s difficult to say but possible to speculate.
“My strong suspicion is that a lot of sperm whale life revolves around social issues,” said
Whitehead. “They’re nomadic, live in permanent groups, and are dependent on each other for everything.
Social structure is vital to them. The only constant thing in their world is their social group. I’d guess that a
lot of their life is paying attention to social relationships.”
These relationships would be “interestingly different from ours, for a variety of reasons,” continued
Whitehead. “There’s nowhere to hide, they can use sound to form an image of each other’s insides —
whether you’re pregnant, hungry, sick. In a three-dimensional habitat, it’s probably much harder to say
something is mine, or yours, whether it’s a piece of food or a potential mate.”
Tyler Schulz, another researcher in Whitehead’s lab, recently refined a method for linking sperm
whale codas to the individual who composed them. That should help researchers get an even better
appreciation of personal traits.
“He found that in one group, most of the animals had a similar repertoire of calls, but the mother of a baby
had a different one,” said Whitehead. “As we analyze the data, we’ll be able to figure out whether that
was the mother’s originally vocabulary, and she was a weirdo, or if maybe that was just baby talk. We all
know women who change their vocabularies when they have babies.”
Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/whalepeople/#ixzz0zAG4ukp8

Hidden Whale Culture Could Be Critical to Species Survival

By Brandon Keim
Though it sounds at first like a marine biologist’s take on political correctness, respecting the cultural
diversity of whales may be essential to saving them.
Scientists are accustomed to thinking of whale populations in terms of genetic diversity. But even when
they share the same genes, groups of whales can live in very different ways, raising the possibility that
species might be saved even while individual cultures vanish. The tragedy of cultural extinction aside,
cultural diversity may sustain the long-term health of Earth’s cetaceans.
“We have no idea what’s going on. As we mess up the world, it goes off in all kinds of weird directions,”
said biologist Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. ”The more diversity that’s out there,
both genetic and cultural, the more whales can deal with it.”
That whales could even have culture is a relatively new scientific proposition. It was not unil the late
1960s that recordings of humpback whale songs provided a glimpse of the unexpectedly complicated
and beautiful world of cetacean communication. The songs don’t appear — for now — to reach the level
of language, but they’re clearly a form of learned communicative behavior common across the cetacean
realm. And as researchers spend more time with whales, they’re realizing just how much their learned
behaviors differ.
One of the best-known example of marine culture comes from killer whales (which, technically, are
dolphins, but they’re mentioned in the same breath as whales by biologists). Pods of killer whales have
highly varied dialects and ways of life, even while sharing the same habitat — the aquatic equivalent of a
neighborhood populated by two different ethnic groups.
Over the last decade, two pods found off North America’s west coast and known to researchers as the
Northern and Southern residents became the focus of an international conservation battle. Scientists
showed that the pods had different dialects and feeding habits. The Southern Residents, their numbers at
a fraction of historical levels, often ranged south through Puget Sound and into waters off the California
coast. They’re more threatened than their Northern counterparts by shipping collisions and depleted
salmon populations.
In 2004, Canada’s environmental officials declared the Southern Residents both distinct and endangered,
but U.S. officials insisted on treating the two pods as a single, genetically similar and unendangered
group. The next year, following outrage among scientists and environmentalists, the United States
acknowledged the Southern Residents as unique and endangered.
Their decision was promising, but cultural considerations are otherwise absent from U.S. government
conservation plans and the agenda of the International Whaling Commission. To some extent, the
absence reflects the state of cetacean science. Most species have not been extensively studied at the
cultural level. But with pollution, noise, global warming, overfishing and intermittent hunting threatening
the recovery of creatures nearly hunted to extinction by the early 20th century, it might be time to expand
the focus.
“If I take all the sperm whales in the North Atlantic, can I consider them as one population? If I can, I can
apply all kinds of theoretical results to it. But if there are factors that might break the population apart,
that’s going to impact the way I can use the models to manage the populations,” said Luke Rendell, a
postdoc biologist at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews. “Once you realize that these sorts of things are
going on, that has to be taken into account.”
Rendell is a specialist in sperm-whale vocalization and learning patterns of sperm whales. Over the last
decade, he and Whitehead and other researchers have painstakingly analyzed acoustic recordings of the
whales, linking them to observations and biological samples, ultimately cobbling together an unexpectedly
complex picture.
Sperm whales live in small social units linked by maternal lineage, and form larger groups only with other
units from the same clan. In the Pacific, these groups are large and tightly linked. In the Atlantic, they’re
small and loosely distributed. Vocalizations vary widely between groups, as do their habits, from hunting
patterns to babysitting. Yet their genes are extremely similar.
In the Pacific, warming waters produced by El Niño fluctuations appear to affect clans differently, said
Whitehead. “In normal temperatures, one of the clans does better,” he said. “And when El Niño strikes,
the clan that was doing worse does better than the other clan. The clan that was doing well is in trouble.
That has implications for global warming, because it’s going to make conditions more like El Niño. You
can see how maintaining the diversity of clans in sperm whales makes it more likely that they’ll survive.”
Whether other cetacean species possess equally rich cultures is largely unknown, but mostly because
so little research has been conducted. “It’s notoriously difficult to collect hard evidence about what’s
going on,” said Rendell. “It’s not like a bird or a bat or a chimpanzee that you can bring into the lab and
investigate how they behave.”
But given the abilities seen in the cetaceans that have been studied, and the socialization patterns
obvious in other species even when they haven’t been rigorously studied, researchers say cultural
diversity is likely common.
“My guess is that there are all kinds of complicated social conventions. We know some from the killer
whales, but I bet they’re in lots of other whale species as well,” said Whitehead.
New research is “giving us a window into really complicated societies,” said Rendell. “You get a much
better appreciation of the complexity. Ten or 20 years ago, it was just, ‘There’s a bunch of whales over
here.’”
Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/whaleculture/#ixzz0zAGxXYRU

Lady Humpback Whales Make Friends & Meet up for Summer

Reunions

Scientists have long thought humpbacks loners. New

research shows this isn’t so: Researchers have observed some female whale form friendships that last
for years. The behavior has only been observed in lady humpbacks of similar age, with the whales going
their separate ways during the breeding season, but reuniting in the open ocean each summer. These
bonds can be quite strong: the longest association endured for six years.

The study appears in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, and it also found that the whales
with the longest-lasting associations gave birth to the most calves–another animal kingdom example that
friendship is beneficial. The whales are probably improving their feeding efficiency, suggests lead author
Christian Ramp.

“Staying together for a prolonged period of time requires a constant effort. That means that they feed
together, but likely also rest together…. So an individual is adapting its behaviour to another one.” [BBC]

When categorizing fraternal sea animals, scientists used to make a dental distinction: tooth-sporting
sperm whales, dolphins, and orcas make friends, but baleen whales like the humpback–those whales that
use stringy baleen to strain their food out of the water–were thought less social. Says Ramp:
“I was very surprised by the prolonged duration…. I was expecting stable associations within one season,
not beyond. I was particularly surprised by the fact that only females form these bonds, especially
females of similar age.” [LiveScience]

Snapping pictures of yearly whale visits to the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Canada’s coast since 1997,
scientists including Ramp recorded the familiar groupings. As for where the summering whales meet up
and how they recognize their old friends, those things are still mysterious.
Ramp wonders whether whaling has made humpbacks’ social pairings increasingly rare since traveling
together might make them easier targets, though he says he would need more research to make this
conclusion.

Studies Shed New Light on Blue Whales and Their Calls

February 27, 2007

Using a variety of new approaches, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego are
forging a new understanding of the largest mammals on Earth.

In one recently published study on blue whales, Scripps researchers used a combination of techniques to
show for the first time that blue whale calls can be tied to specific behavior and gender classifications. In
a separate study, researchers used recordings of blue whale songs to determine the animal's population
distributions worldwide.

While the specific function of songs and calls produced by whales remains a mystery to a large degree,
the sounds are thought to mediate social interactions between the animals.

The first study, led by Scripps postdoctoral researcher Erin Oleson and Scripps scientist John Hildebrand,
describes the behavioral context of calls produced by eastern North Pacific blue whales. Few researchers
have attempted to link sound production with specific behaviors or environmental conditions to attempt to
determine the significance of whale calls.

“This is the first study that has been able to study the calls by directly observing the animal while it is
calling and gathering key information such as depth and body orientation-getting a sense of what the
animal is doing underwater,” said Oleson. “Once you understand the context of specific types of sounds,
then you can use those sounds to infer something about what they are doing when you are not there to
actually see them doing it.”

Using a blend of approaches that included attaching miniature acoustic recording tags to whales, Oleson
and her colleagues were able to find clear patterns tied to whale behavior, sex type and group size
with specific call types. The tags included the National Geographic “Crittercam,” an integrated video-
camcorder and data-logging system, and the “B-probe,” an electronic data-logging tag attached to the
animal via suction cup. Those data were supplemented with analysis of whale tissue samples and visual
observations from ships.

The researchers found that only males produced sounds known as “AB” calls while “D” calls were heard
from both sexes, typically during foraging. The researchers note in the paper, published in the January 25
issue of the Marine Ecology Progress Series journal, that the sex bias evident in AB callers suggests that
those calls probably play a role in reproduction.

Oleson hopes such call and behavior information will eventually be used for better understanding whale
habitats and calculating species abundances.

The second study, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Cetacean Research Management,
describes the first attempt at determining worldwide blue whale populations by analyzing nuances of their
songs.
Hildebrand and his colleagues used acoustic recordings from around the world, including data from his
own instrument deployments and recordings from other scientists and the U.S. Navy, to create a new
map that geographically categorizes blue whale species types into nine regions around the world based
on their song “dialects.”

While certain regional designations are concentrated in areas close to one coastal area, such as the
map's “type 1” classification primarily off the North American coast, others, such as “type 4,” are spread
over broad areas, in this case throughout the Northern Pacific Ocean.

The blue whale saw its numbers dwindle dangerously before whaling moratoria were enacted. Now the
new study may become a tool for representing its true population stocks. The paper suggests that the
stock structures of blue whales, traditionally based on International Whaling Commission boundaries,
should instead be reconstructed based on song, which would more accurately represent their true
population distributions.

“By listening to the animals, you can tell something about the areas in which they are interacting to breed
and that's important to know for managing and conserving the animals,” said Hildebrand, who coauthored
the paper with Mark McDonald of Whale Acoustics and Sarah Mesnick of the Southwest Fisheries
Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Blue whales have perfect pitch

Sept. 9, 2010 -- Blue whales have the remarkable ability to synchronize the pitch of their songs so that
they all hit the exact same note, according to a new study. Professor of Physics Roger Bland recorded
thousands of whale songs off the coast of California and found that whales in the eastern North Pacific
are tuning into a common frequency--behavior that may help these giant creatures find potential mates.
The topography at Pioneer Seamount Underwater Observatory, 50 miles off the shore of Half Moon
Bay, where Professor Roger Bland captured recordings of blue whale songs. Pioneer Seamount is an
underwater mountain which was used to support a vertical hydrophone array (underwater microphones at
different height intervals). Credit: NOAA PMEL Vents Program
"A synchronized pitch is surprising since we would expect animals of different sizes to produce sounds
at a different pitch, for example a small dog with a high-pitched bark or a large dog with a low bark," said
Bland, an underwater acoustics expert.

Using underwater microphones installed off the coast of northern California's Half Moon Bay, Bland
captured 4,378 blue whale songs and analyzed the whales' B calls, the long, sad moan that forms
the second half of the song used by whales in the eastern North Pacific. Scientists believe that whale
populations have their own signature tunes.

The analysis revealed that the whales all produce the B call at a frequency of 16.02 Hertz, exactly four
octaves below middle C.

"We found that blue whales are capable of very fine control over the pitch of their call -- both in
reproducing their call at the same pitch every time and in synchronizing their pitch with others," Bland
said.

The study found a very slim margin of error from call to call. In musical terms, the half-tone change of
pitch between the notes C and C Sharp is a 6 percent increase in pitch, whereas the variation observed
between the blue whale's B calls was only a 0.5 percent change in pitch.
Bland believes that tuning in to a uniform pitch might help individual whales locate potential mates,
particularly since the songs appear to only be sung by males.

"If whales are so super accurate in always calling at the exact same pitch, then it's possible that they
could be able to detect tiny shifts in other whales' calls caused by the Doppler shift," said Bland, referring
to the change in pitch that is heard when the source of sound is moving toward or away from an individual
-- the same effect when we hear the whistle of a passing train.
"Given that blue whales can travel up to 5 meters per second, it's feasible that females could locate
calling males by swimming toward or away from a male and listening for the changes in the male's pitch,"
Bland said."There's certainly something very deliberate and strategic about their songs."

The study was published in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and
can be found on Bland's website.
Bland co-authored the study with Newell Garfield, professor of geosciences and director of the Romberg
Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, and Michael D. Hoffman, a former student at SF State.

--Listen to an audio file of a blue whale song (MP3 format requires Quicktime or Real Player). This 2.5
minute recording includes a blue whale song, which consists of the A call, a series of pulses, followed by
the B call, a long, low moan.
-- Elaine Bible

Blue whales singing with deeper voices

(PhysOrg.com) -- Blue whales, the largest animals on earth, are singing with deeper voices
every year, but scientists are unsure of the reason.

Whale Acoustics is a company that specializes in recording the songs of blue whales off the coast of
California. According to their President, Mark McDonald, they have many recordings of blue whales,
but each year they have had to recalibrate their song detectors to lower frequencies. Possible reasons
include noise pollution at sea, new mating strategies, and changing population dynamics, but none of
these theories is convincing.

McDonald, along with John Hildebrand and Sarah Melnick of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
have collected and analyzed thousands of recordings of blue whales from the 1960s onwards, from
populations around the globe, and have found the tonal frequency of the songs has reduced by fractions
of a Hertz every year. This has been true even though the songs differ in different oceans and the
populations seem quite distinct from each other. In the most studied populations, those off California, the
pitch has reduced by 31 percent during the period.

McDonald originally thought the cause could be more noise pollution in the oceans through increased
shipping traffic, since it is known that ambient noise in the oceans has increased by over 12 decibels
in the last fifty or sixty years. However, McDonald said that if whales were trying to be heard above
increased ambient noise, they would be expected to sing at higher frequencies rather than lower.
Another possibility is that sounds travel differently through water that is now warmer, more acidic, and
contains more absorbed carbon dioxide than before, and the whales are responding to the changes.
McDonald said he doubts this is the cause since the effects are so small, and the shift in frequency is
relatively large.

Blue whales were hunted almost to extinction during the early twentieth century, and since hunting has
stopped populations are recovering, and it has been suggested that the songs were higher pitched in
the 1960s than they are now because they needed their songs to be louder to reach the more scattered
populations. The problems with this idea are populations that were not hunted have also lowered the
frequency of their songs, and low frequency sounds are known to travel further than high frequencies.
Another possible reason for the lowering of frequency may be connected with selection of mates, since
only male blue whales sing, and larger, more mature whales tend to sing at lower frequencies. The
hypothesis is that younger males may be trying to impress females by emulating their seniors, but little is
known about how blue whales use their songs, and their social dynamics are poorly understood.

Whale song is the sound made by whales to communicate.

The word "song" is used to describe the pattern of regular and predictable sounds made by some species
of whales, notably the Humpback Whale. This is included with or in comparison with music, and male
humpback whales have been described as "inveterate composers" of songs that are "'strikingly similar' to
human musical traditions".[1]

The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals,
such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are much more dependent on sound for communication and
sensation than are land mammals, because other senses are of limited effectiveness in water. Sight
is less effective for marine mammals because of the way water absorbs light. Smell also is limited, as
molecules diffuse more slowly in water than in air, which makes smelling less effective. In addition, the
speed of sound is roughly four times greater in water than in the atmosphere at sea level. Because sea
mammals are so dependent on hearing to communicate and feed, environmentalists and cetologists are
concerned that they are being harmed by the increased ambient noise in the world's oceans caused by
ships, sonar and marine seismic surveys.

Contents
[hide]
● 1 Production of sound
○ 1.1 Odontocete whale sound production
○ 1.2 Mysticete whale sound production
○ 1.3 Mysticete whale sound levels
● 2 Purpose of whale-created sounds
● 3 Song of the Humpback Whale
● 4 Other whale sounds
● 5 Human interaction
● 6 Media
● 7 Selected discography
● 8 See also
● 9 References
○ 9.1 General references
● 10 External links
Production of sound
Humans produce sound by expelling air through the larynx. The vocal cords within the larynx open and
close as necessary to separate the stream of air into discrete pockets of air.These pockets are shaped by
the throat, tongue, and lips into the desired sound, allowing humans to speak.
Cetacean sound production differs markedly from this mechanism. The precise mechanism differs in the
two major suborders of cetaceans: the Odontoceti (toothed whales—including dolphins) and the Mysticeti
(baleen whales—including the largest whales, such as the Blue Whale).

Odontocete whale sound production

Idealized dolphin head showing the regions involved in sound production. This image was redrawn from
Cranford (2000).

Toothed whales do not make the long, low-frequency sounds known as the whale song.Instead,
they produce rapid bursts of high-frequency clicks and whistles. Single clicks are generally used for
echolocation whereas collections of clicks and whistles are used for communication. Though a large pod
of dolphins will produce a wide range of different noises, very little is known about the meaning of the
sound. Frankel quotes one researcher who says listening to a school of odontocetes is like listening to a
group of children at a school playground.[2]

The multiple sounds odontocetes make are produced by passing air through a structure in the head
called the phonic lips. This structure functions like the human nasal cavity. As the air passes through
this narrow passage, the phonic lip membranes are sucked together, causing the surrounding tissue to
vibrate. These vibrations can, as with the vibrations in the human larynx, be consciously controlled with
great sensitivity. The vibrations pass through the tissue of the head to the melon, which shapes and
directs the sound into a beam of sound useful in echolocation. Every toothed whale except the sperm
whale has two sets of phonic lips and is thus capable of making two sounds independently. Once the air
has passed the phonic lips it enters the vestibular sac. From there, the air may be recycled back into the
lower part of the nasal complex, ready to be used for sound creation again, or passed out through the
blowhole.

The French name for phonic lips, museau de singe, translates literally as "monkey lips," which the phonic
lip structure is supposed to resemble. New cranial analysis using computed axial and single photon
emission computed tomography scans in 2004 showed, at least in the case of bottlenose dolphins,
that air might be supplied to the nasal complex from the lungs by the palatopharyngeal sphincter,
enabling the sound creation process to continue for as long as the dolphin is able to hold its breath.[3]

Mysticete whale sound production

Baleen whales (formally called mysticetes) do not have phonic lip structure. Instead, they have a larynx
that appears to play a role in sound production, but it lacks vocal cords and scientists remain uncertain
as to the exact mechanism. The process, however, cannot be completely analogous to humans, because
whales do not have to exhale in order to produce sound. It is likely that they recycle air around the body
for this purpose. Cranial sinuses may also be used to create the sounds, but again researchers are
currently unclear how.

Mysticete whale sound levels

The frequency of baleen whale sounds ranges from 10 Hz to 31 kHz.[4] A list of typical levels is shown in
the table below.

Source Broadband source level (dB re 1 μPa at 1m) [5]

Fin whale moans 155–186

Blue whale moans 155–188

Gray whale moans 142–185

Bowhead whale tonals, moans and song 128–189

Purpose of whale-created sounds

While the complex sounds of the Humpback whale (and some blue whales) are believed to be primarily
used in sexual selection, the simpler sounds of other whales have a year-round use. While toothed
whales are capable of using echolocation to detect the size and nature of objects, this capability has
never been demonstrated in baleen whales. Further, unlike some fish such as sharks, a whale's sense
of smell is not highly developed. Thus, given the poor visibility of aquatic environments and that sound
travels so well in water, sounds audible to humans may play a role in navigation. For instance, the depth
of water or the existence of a large obstruction ahead may be detected by loud noises made by baleen
whales.
The singing of whale songs for aesthetic enjoyment, personal satisfaction, or 'for art's sake', is "an
untestable question in scientific terms."[6]

Song of the Humpback Whale

Spectrogram of Humpback Whale vocalizations. Detail is shown for the first 24 seconds of the 37 second
recording Humpback Whale "Song". The ethereal whale "songs" and echolocation "clicks" are visible as
horizontal striations and vertical sweeps respectively. Spectrogram generated with Fatpigdog's PC based
Real Time FFT Spectrum Analyzer.

Two groups of whales, the Humpback Whale and the subspecies of Blue Whale found in the Indian
Ocean, are known to produce a series of repetitious sounds at varying frequencies. This is known as
whale song. Marine biologist Philip Clapham describes the song as "probably the most complex in the
animal kingdom".[7]

Male humpback whales perform these vocalizations only during the mating season, and so it is believed
the purpose of songs is to aid sexual selection.[2] Whether the songs are a competitive behavior between
males seeking the same mate, a means of defining territory or a "flirting" behavior from a male to a
female is not known and the subject of ongoing research. Males have been observed singing while
simultaneously acting as an "escort" whale in the immediate vicinity of a female. Singing has also been
recorded in competitive groups of whales that are composed of one female and multiple males.

Interest in whale song was aroused by researchers Roger Payne and Scott McVay after the songs
were brought to their attention by a Bermudian named Frank Watlington who was working for the US
government at the SOFAR station listening for Russian submarines with underwater hydrophones off the
coast of the island.[8]

The songs follow a distinct hierarchical structure. The base units of the song (sometimes loosely called
the "notes") are single uninterrupted emissions of sound that last up to a few seconds. These sounds vary
in frequency from 20 Hz to 10 kHz (the typical human range of hearing is 20 Hz to 20 kHz). The units may
be frequency modulated (i.e., the pitch of the sound may go up, down, or stay the same during the note)
or amplitude modulated (get louder or quieter). However the adjustment of bandwidth on a spectrogram
representation of the song reveals the essentially pulsed nature of the FM sounds.

A collection of four or six units is known as a sub-phrase, lasting perhaps ten seconds (see also phrase
(music)). A collection of two sub-phrases is a phrase. A whale will typically repeat the same phrase over
and over for two to four minutes. This is known as a theme. A collection of themes is known as a song.
The whale will repeat the same song, which last up to 30 or so minutes, over and over again over the
course of hours or even days. This "Russian doll" hierarchy of sounds has captured the imagination of
scientists.[weasel words]
All the whales in an area sing virtually the same song at any point in time and the song is constantly
and slowly evolving over time.For example, over the course of a month a particular unit that started
as an "upsweep" (increasing in frequency) might slowly flatten to become a constant note.[2] Another
unit may get steadily louder. The pace of evolution of a whale's song also changes—some years
the song may change quite rapidly, whereas in other years little variation may be recorded.[2]

Idealized schematic of the song of a humpback whale.

Redrawn from Payne, et al. (1983)

Humpback whale, sound spectrum and time plots

Whales occupying the same geographical areas (which can be as large as entire ocean basins) tend to
sing similar songs, with only slight variations. Whales from non-overlapping regions sing entirely different
songs.[2]

As the song evolves, it appears that old patterns are not revisited.[2] An analysis of 19 years of whale
songs found that while general patterns in song could be spotted, the same combination never recurred.

Humpback whales may also make stand-alone sounds that do not form part of a song, particularly during
courtship rituals.[9] Finally, humpbacks make a third class of sound called the feeding call.This is a
long sound (5 to 10 s duration) of near constant frequency. Humpbacks generally feed cooperatively by
gathering in groups, swimming underneath shoals of fish and all lunging up vertically through the fish and
out of the water together. Prior to these lunges, whales make their feeding call. The exact purpose of the
call is not known, but research suggests that fish know what it means. When the sound was played back
to them, a group of herring responded to the sound by moving away from the call, even though no whale
was present.

Some scientists have proposed that Humpback Whale songs may serve an echolocative purpose,[10] but
this has been subject to disagreement.[11]

Other whale sounds

Humpback whales have also been found to make a range of other social sounds to communicate such
as "grunts", "groans", "thwops", "snorts" and "barks".[12]
Most baleen whales make sounds at about 15–20 hertz.However, marine biologists, led by Mary Ann
Daher, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reported in New Scientist in December 2004 that
she had been tracking a whale in the North Pacific for 12 years that was "singing" at 52 Hz.[13] The
scientists are unable to explain this dramatic difference from the norm; however, they believe the whale
is baleen[14] and unlikely to be a new species,[13] suggesting that currently known species may have a
wider vocal range than previously thought.

In 2009, researchers found that blue whale song has been deepening in its tonal frequency since the
1960s.[15] While noise pollution has increased ambient ocean noise by over 12 decibels since the mid-
20th century, researcher Mark McDonald indicated that higher pitches would be expected if the whales
were straining to be heard.[16]

Most other whales and dolphins produce sounds of varying degrees of complexity. Of particular interest is
the Beluga (the "sea canary") which produces an immense variety of whistles, clicks and pulses.

Human interaction
Voyager Golden Records carried whale songs into outer space with other sounds representing planet
Earth.

Though some observers suggest that undue fascination has been placed on the whales' songs simply
because the animals are under the sea, most marine mammal scientists believe that sound plays a
particularly vital role in the development and well-being of cetaceans.

Researchers use hydrophones (often adapted from their original military use in tracking submarines)
to ascertain the exact location of the origin of whale noises.Their methods allow them also to detect
how far through an ocean a sound travels. Research by Dr. Christopher Clark of Cornell University
conducted using military data showed that whale noises travel for thousands of kilometres.[17] As well
as providing information about song production, the data allows researchers to follow the migratory
path of whales throughout the "singing" (mating) season. One important finding is that whales in a
process called the Lombard effect adjust their song to compensate for background noise pollution.[18]

Prior to the introduction of human noise production, Clark says the noises may have travelled right
from one side of an ocean to the other, agreeing with a thirty-year-old concept blaming large-scale
shipping.[17] His research indicates that ambient noise from boats is doubling with each decade.[17]
This has the effect of reducing the range at which whale noises can be heard. Clark admitted to being
particularly concerned by this increase in ambient noise. Environmentalists fear that such boat activity is
putting undue stress on the animals as well as making it difficult to find a mate.[17]

Family stories
Humpback whales come from the order CETACEA. Cetacea includes whales, dolphins, and porpoise.
(There are no porpoise in Hawaii). Cetus is Latin, the original meaning was "large sea animal", and it is
used in biological names to mean "whale". Cetaceans are the marine mammals who have fully adapted to
aquatic lifestyles. Their forelimbs are modified to flippers, their tiny hind limbs are vestigial , they are not
attached to a backbone, and their bodies are fusiform (spindle shaped). The order Cetacea contains 90
known animals, all marine except four species of river dolphins. Cetaceans are nearly hairless (dolphins
are born with a mustache, and humpbacks have hair on their heads during their entire lifetime), and are
insulated by a layer of blubber. They are noted for their amazing intelligence. The order is divided into
two sub-orders. Mysteceti (baleen/mustached) and Odonteceti (toothed animals). Mystecetes have two
blowholes and odontocetes have only one.

In this family of whales, the humpback whale has five siblings: the Blue -, Fin -, Sei -, Bryde's and Minke
whales. The Blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived on our planet: it can grow more than 90 feet
long and weigh up to 180 tons. Its heart is as large as a small car!

At Whalesong, we concentrate on the largest and most famous cetacean to the waters around Hawaii,
the humpback whale: Class: Mammals (Mammalia) Order: Sea mammals (Cetacea)Subordination:
Baleen whales (Mysticeti) Family: Rorquals (Balaenopteridae)Kind: Humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae)

Why is the humpback whale called a humpback whale? The humpback whale probably got its name
from early whalers that designated the name based on their observations. When diving, these whales
have an area of pronounced blubber in front of the dorsal fin, giving the back a ‘humped' look. This is
mentioned in many whaling records.

What special characteristics do humpback whales have? Although humpback whales differ from their
other family members in many ways, one characteristic that is the same with all six family members is
the way the throat grooves, or ventral pleats, are situated. All of the baleen whales have 14 to 35 throat
grooves which run from the chin to the navel. The main difference between the humpback and the other
whales is that their flippers (pectoral fins) are unusually long - up to approximately 20 feet, which is up to
a third of their whole body length. Therefore, they also have the scientific name Megaptera novaeangliae,
which means "Great Wings of New England." The reason the flipper is so long is still a mystery, although
scientists have learned that the pectoral fins, with the knobs on the leading edge, make for amazing
control and turning abilities. More studies are being done on this subject.
How long do humpback whales live? Scientists estimate a life expectancy of up to 50 years, maybe
even longer. Years ago scientists attempted to age humpbacks by comparing the growth rings within the
ear plugs, which proved to be unsuccessful as the whales do not always migrate annually, and usually
sink when expired, so obtaining the ear plugs is nearly impossible. A fairly recent study of a relative
baleen whale, the bowhead, proved to be more successful. Indigenous Indians of the north are allowed
to hunt a few whales annually and scientists were given the eyeballs. Testing the amino acids behind the
eye lenses they found several whales to be well over 100 years old and one, in particular, was 179 years
of age! How long do humpbacks live? They simply do not know. Further studies have to be done on this.

How large do humpback whales become? Humpback whales are born 10-20 feet long and can weigh
1-2 tons at birth. A full grown humpback whale (at the age of 12) could grow up to 45 feet long and weigh
up to 40 tons, with the females usually being longer and heavier than the males. Their flukes grow to be
nearly 20 feet wide - as long as their pectoral fins are and roughly the length of their heads. Nearly 40%
of their weight is muscle! The largest humpback whale recorded was caught and killed in the Caribbean
many years ago. She was 88 feet long. How much she weighed was unknown since they are taken apart
before hauling on board. Some scientists speculate that humpbacks could theoretically continue to grow
as they age. To this day, the largest humpback known is 50' long and weight most likely 50 tons. (They
weigh a ton per foot.) Where did all the big ones go? The sad answer is they were probably taken by the
whalers. It may take several generations before we have true answers.

How many humpback whales exist? The estimations of the current population vary widely: some speak
of 5,000-7,000 animals, and others of 12,000-14,000 animals. Even if there were 14,000 animals, that
would only be a fraction of the originally estimated population of approximately 115,000 animals. The
humpback whale's existence is, therefore, considered endangered. They received full protection by the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1963, but are still hunted illegally. Currently there are many
efforts being made to save these animals. To date, researchers are feeling very encouraged by the North
Pacific population annual increase of about seven percent. Calf mortality still appears to be very low.

What threats are endangering the humpback whale? The humpback has two natural threats: the killer
whale and the shark. But the most dangerous threat for these creatures is human beings:

Commercial whaling: Whales received full protection by the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
with a moratorium in the commercial hunting in 1986. Three countries - Japan, Norway and Iceland -
have used loopholes in its wording to unilaterally resume hunting of several whale species. One is the so-
called "purpose of scientific research". In order to stimulate the local market a recent plan of the Japanese
government suggests to offer whale meat in school cafeterias as the storerooms are full of whale meat
and blubber.

In April 2010 whale meat was found in restaurants in Santa Monica and Seoul, South Korea and
scientists identified several different whale species in sashimi including fin whale, sei whale and Antarctic
minke whale. All of these are listed with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES), which prohibits the international trade of endangered species. Read the full story

Here are some facts, taken from the WWF website:

Japan has killed 8.201 minke whales in the Antarctic for "scientific purposes" since the moratorium in
1986. A total of 840 whales were killed by Japan under special permit during the 31 years before the
moratorium (1). Japan took a total of 866 whales in 2006/07 season:
● 3 Southern Hemisphere fin whales,
● 508 Southern Hemisphere minke whales,
● 197 North Pacific minke whales,
● 51 North Pacific Brydes whales,
● 101 North Pacific sei whales,
● 6 North Pacific sperm whales. (2)

The 2005/06 season was the first time Japan had taken fin whales, an endangered species.

(1) Info from IWC 58 Workshop document on Fin Whales WKM-AWI8

(2) Info from IWC website submitted by the Government of New Zealand

Iceland: In 2006/07 Iceland took 60 minke whales under special permit for "scientific whaling", up from 39
in the last season (1). However Iceland announced in October 2006 that in addition to the whales caught
for scientific research, they would resume commercial whaling and issued quotas for 30 minke whales
and 9 fin whales (2).

In the 2006/2007 season, Iceland took 7 fin whales and 1 minke whale under its commercial whaling
programme.

(1) Info from IWC website

(2) Info from Iceland Ministry of Fisheries website

Norway broke the moratorium in 1993 and resumed commercial whaling. Since then they have taken
over 6.879 minke whales under objection (1).

Norway took 545 whales in 2006 season.

(1) Info from IWC website

Ocean pollution: Analysis of blubber has shown traces of POP's (Persistent Organic Pollutants). A
stranded sperm whale at the German coast of the North Sea had to be treated as dangerous waste
because the body had been so polluted. These POP's also affect the reproduction of the whales. Mercury
levels in marine mammals have reached a record high making the consumption of these animals
extremely dangerous.

Noise pollution: Increasing noise pollution, in the form of underwater explorations for oil or gas, ships,
air guns or newly developed underwater sonar systems, is affecting the navigational abilities of the
whales. The "LFAS" (low frequency active sonar) is able to detect quiet vessels and therefore it produces
extremely loud sound waves (up to 180 db!). All this could be linked to the increasing number of marine
mammal strandings.

Marine debris: Lost or dumped equipment from the fishing industry is an increasing danger to the
whales. They are not able to see these nylon nets and if they become entangled, they will drown. More
and more whales, dolphins, porpoises, sharks and other marine mammals suffer painful deaths from
entanglement.
Global warming: Global warming has an influence on the whale's food chain. There will be less krill if the
ice crust of Antarctica is melting, which means blue whales would have to cover a much greater area to
find enough food, leaving less food for the humpbacks.

Over-fishing: Several commercially used fish species are vastly over-fished, which means their
population is endangered because they don't have enough time to reproduce. It's a disruption to the
whale's food supply and, unfortunately, the steps to a sustainable fishing industry (with a fixed catch
quota, for example) are taken very hesitantly. There is very good news recently (August, 2008) on krill
making a comeback and how this will directly affect our whales. If you want to know more, please click
HERE and read all about it.

Can we find humpback whales in all seas? Humpback whales exist worldwide - the National Marine
Sanctuary has identified 6 different populations. Whalesong concentrates on the population of the
North Pacific. The majority of the population (approx. 60%) migrates into the warmer waters around
Hawaii during winter time. Approximately 30% migrate to the coast of Mexico or Baja California, and the
remaining 10% make the journey to the southern islands off Japan. They are found frequently in proximity
to the coast in relatively shallow water. That gives us the possibility of being able to observe the whales
well - in Hawaii you can often see the whales from the beach! They are, however, not around Hawaii
throughout the entire year. The first whales come to their breeding ground in the warmer waters at the
end of October, at which time some give birth to the new generation. According to many researchers,
most whales may spend only a few days in the breeding grounds after their arrival, then they make their
way back again to their feeding grounds around in the north. The exception would be new mothers who
must wait until their little ones are strong enough for the journey, and may stay in Hawaiian waters for 1 ½
to 2 months.

Why do the humpback whales migrate? Humpback whales undertake a great journey, about 3500
miles one way. The waters around Hawaii are relatively warm and thus offer ideal conditions to the
whales in order to reproduce. Although scientists disagree humpback calves would not survive in
colder waters since they are born without a blubber layer, others argue that seals, porpoise and other
mammals' young do survive. One argument that does hold merit is the fact that the orca, a strong
presence in the colder waters and the one main predator to whales, does not exist in large numbers in
the breeding grounds. Warm waters, however, have the disadvantage that there is hardly enough food
for the whales there so they must head back to Alaska, since the cooler waters offer a "richly covered
table" for the humpback whales there. During the time between the end of October and the beginning
of May, the whales are on a "diet" and it is said that a full-grown humpback whale loses several tons of
weight during the time it spends around Hawaii. A nursing mother may even lose a third of her weight!
Researchers are also aware that not all humpbacks migrate. Humpback whales are seen off Alaska and
Canada all year around. Several years ago a new baby was spotted off Prince Rupert with its mother!

Do humpback whales always return to Hawaii? We don't know for sure! Some scientists believe that at
the beginning of the 19th century the humpback whales wasn't known in Hawaiian waters. However some
Hawaiian chants of ancient origin refer to the "kohola lele" (the jumping humpback whale) in Hawaiian
waters. It would be the only known case where whales changed their migration routes. Today, about
9000 humpbacks per year can be found in the waters around Hawaii. That is about 60% of the whole
humpback population of the North Pacific. The largest concentration is found in Maui County. Here,
the water is fairly shallow (less than 1.000 feet) making humpback communication more easily heard.
How long are the humpback whales on their journey? With the help of transmitters and satellite
monitoring systems, scientists have already been able to determine the duration of their migration.
Through observations of individual humpback whales, scientists estimate that they travel a distance of
approximately 3500 miles between their breeding and feeding grounds in 30 to 39 days. The National
Marine Sanctuary identified an individual humpback via photo-ID in Alaska and in Maui only 28 days later,
which means that this particular whale traveled 3500 miles in less than a month! Humpbacks travel at an
average speed of approximately 3 to 6 miles per hour, but are able to reach up to 20 mph for a short time.

Do humpback whales migrate alone or in groups? Humpbacks usually aren't gregarious animals –
they rarely appear in groups or so-called pods. The humpbacks do not all migrate at one time, and not all
migrate. Most of the humpbacks head to Hawaii alone or a small collection, and they probably meet with
other whales on the way. Scientists tell us that a collection of humpbacks is called a group. They have
decided that the word ‘pod' is to be used for structured groupings, such as the families of dolphins, orca,
sperm whales, and others.

What kind of social bonds do humpback whales exhibit? Our knowledge about the social bonds of
the humpbacks is not yet distinctive. We assume that most of the bonds are only short term – the longest
and most intense bond being between mother and calf, since they are inseparable for at least a year.
There are assumptions of a deeper complexity which deserve study. Males could cooperate, as well as
compete, with each other. For example, in their breeding grounds they compete for the best place next
to a receptive female. Most of the humpbacks are hunting and feeding on their own, but about 25% get
together in pods and cooperate in the foraging, though they may travel alone the rest of the year.

What is the difference between the populations of North and South Pacific? The humpbacks of the
North Pacific (Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Japan, Mexico) are usually a little darker on the underside of their
flukes, their pectoral fins, bellies, and their throat grooves compared to the population of the South Pacific
(Antarctica, Australia, South Pacific Islands). While many of the humpbacks sing head down to Hawaii, it's
the opposite in the South Pacific. There may be many other differences as well and both populations are
being closely studied.

Are the populations of North and South Pacific mixing together? Usually the two populations do
not mix together. Since the seasons of the year are opposite in each hemisphere, the humpbacks of the
North Pacific are migrating toward Alaska and Canada in May at the same time the humpbacks of the
South Pacific are migrating from Antarctica to Australia and the South Pacific Islands. In October, it goes
the other way around. But, there is an exception to every rule: One season, researchers in the northern
hemisphere noticed a whale with a fluke that was plain white on the underside. They couldn't find the
whale in their photo-ID database and sent the photo to researchers in the southern hemisphere. Australia
called right away, "Hey, this is our whale!" In old whaling records there are several instances where the
whaling vessels followed humpbacks from the southern hemisphere and wound up in the "Sandwich
Islands" (Hawaii).

How long do the humpback whales stay in Hawaii waters? There are different opinions. Dr. Jim
Darling suggests an average stay of just two weeks in Hawaii waters before heading back to Alaska,
others think it could be longer, but they all agree that the duration of their stay depends on different
circumstances: a recently impregnated female will head back right away (a female had been identified via
photo-ID on the way back after just 21 days in Hawaiian waters); a mother who has given birth will stay
longer until the calf is strong enough to make the long, dangerous journey. According to Dr. Darling, the
longest stay researchers are aware of is 2 months with a mother/calf pair.

How can one identify an individual humpback whale? The underside of the tail (called a fluke) has a
unique pattern, and is a distinguishing characteristic comparable to a human fingerprint. The fluke could
be differently patterned in black, grey, and white, and it may have scars from an orca or a collision with
a boat. Flukes are being photographed and researchers have access to a special database in which all
the photographs are archived. This is called photo-identification. That gives us the opportunity to gather
revealing information about a whale's preferred feeding grounds, migration routes, and behavior within a
pod. New research suggests that most orca attacks are done on calves and juveniles, but the scars are
lifelong. In the near future, NOAA hopes to have a global database that everyone can access and even
add their own fluke photos to it.

How do humpback whales reproduce?

Sexual maturity After approximately 5 (females) or 7 years (males), and after they have reached a length
of approximately 35-40 feet, females as well as males are considered to have reached sexual maturity.
Females may mate every 1-3 years after reaching their sexual maturity, according to research. Males will
head to breeding grounds to mate, compete, or if you are a young male humpback, just watch and learn.

Gestation period After a gestation period of approximately 12 months, female humpbacks give birth to
a whopping baby, 10 – 20 feet in length and weighing 1 – 2 tons, depending on the size of the mother.
Calves length is approximately the length of mom's head, so small moms, little calves, big moms,
enormous young. The North Pacific calves are born in warmer waters around Hawaii, Baja California, and
off the Bonin Islands of Japan. According to researchers calves are born positively buoyant, which means
immediately after birth they will bob to the surface like a cork.

Nursing The mother nurses the calf for anywhere between 6 and 11 months. While feeding, mother
and calf are close to the surface so that the calf can easily reach to breathe. The term nurse or suckle
is actually not completely correct, since the milk is squirted by the mother into the mouth of her calf. The
calf will 'latch' on to the nipple using the tip of the rostrum. Photos of new calves show the skin pigment
worn away in the front. Also, according to researchers, the calves have no baleen in the very front of
their mouths creating a small gap. If it were not this way, the milk would hit the baleen and the nutrition
would be lost. Feeding the calves up to 100-130 gallons of milk, which is very thick, the consistency
of yogurt, and 50% fat every day allows the baby to gain about 100 pounds every day. At this rate,
researchers have discovered the calves rapidly grow 1 foot per month! Before its first birthday, the "little"
humpback whale already eats krill and fish and has doubled in weight and length. The following year,
if the mother returns to the breeding grounds, the yearling may follow, but not all do. Off the coast of
Canada, many ‘little' ones have been seen and photographed staying and continuing to follow the food to
small inland passages.

How do humpback whales sing? For a long time, it was believed that whales cannot sing since they
do not have functional vocal cords. Researchers believe that the sounds are produced by pushing one
air stream in different directions within their respiratory tract, and another study suggests the thorax
may be used. In the 1950's, their singing was discovered when the United States Navy experimented
with hydrophones. From then on, their singing has been analyzed by scientists, who describe it like this:
the whales go to a depth of between 45 & 130 feet and get into a certain position when they sing. They
may remain motionless with their head downward, or are sometimes seen traveling, either alone, or with
another male and a small percentage are observed traveling with a female and her calf.

Kent Noonan, our engineer, made the following experiences: "There was a mother/baby/escort pod
traveling toward me while I was out in my kayak with my hydrophone. The mother and baby veered to
one side and swam by me underwater. The male swam directly under me only a few feet down and
continued singing uninterrupted. I was listening as he approached and it became so loud I thought my
ears would burst. I tore the headphones off and could still hear it very loud as he passed under me only
about 8 feet down. Another time I saw a large male singing while I recorded nearby. He was slowly
swimming in a large circle under a mother and baby. He went in a circle perhaps 100 yards across at a
rate of about 15 minutes to go around it, about 50 to 100 feet down. This is the recording I call "Kalama
Lullaby" because it seemed he was making a cradle of sound for the mother and baby to feel protected in,
while they snuggled on the surface in the sun"

What is known about their singing? We can distinguish several kinds of sound, the so-called "social
sounds", "communicative sounds between mothers and calves", the "feeding siren" or "call" done in the
feeding grounds, and the classic "whalesongs" we are engaged with. With all the studies being done each
year, perhaps even more types will be uncovered!

social sounds These are short, quick sounds which can hardly be heard (or not heard at all!) under
water with the human ear. These sounds can only be picked up with special hydrophones which would
have to be close to the whales and pointed directly at them. The social sounds are used to communicate,
especially when they travel slowly on the surface or when resting - but not when traveling at higher
speeds. The majority of this kind of communication (85%) takes place between mothers and their calves,
according to Dr. Marsha Green, but another example may be whales within a group communicating with
each other.

whalesongs It has been defined that only the humpback whale males are singing. Unlike a pop song
with a melody, a whalesong is more like a string of different sounds in different pitches that can sound
like humming, snoring, groaning, sighing or chirping. Similar to classical music, a whalesong consists
of different themes which develop and build over the years. The whale songs can even be heard from
a distance of 100 miles or more. The whales are singing mainly in their breeding grounds or on the
way from or to their feeding grounds in cooler waters. Although whale singing has been heard in the
feeding grounds up north, other communicative sounds are much more common and are currently being
studied. Perhaps we will be able to install a hydrophone in Alaska one day to learn more about that.

Why do humpback whales sing? Although it is the best known and most studied large whale, nobody
knows exactly why the humpback whale sings. As the songs are performed almost exclusively in the
breeding grounds, researchers believe that singing and mating go together. But whether a male is trying
to impress a female or get rid of competitors or show his social status still remains a secret. Another
theory explains the singing as a kind of sonar to find other whales. A recent study by Dr. Darling and
his team shows several hypotheses still being studied. One is females are chased by singing and non-
singing males. Another is pairs of males around females take on different roles of blocking and chasing,
and yet another is not all male-singer relationships are non-agnostic, that is, in many instances they
witnessed highly agnostic reactions. The research team found that with adult male/male interactions that
were mediated with song were extremely common in our breeding grounds and that the singing usually
stopped with the interaction. They also found most interactions were with an adult male singer being
joined by another adult male, and at some times two adult males. Also according to the team, several
observations appear to tie in sequential behavioral patterns. Most common, they say, is a lone male
singing, occasionally singers are accompanying a mom/calf, and a small percentage was a singing male
accompanied by another adult, sex unknown. They feel the song might help in organizing the males
and may provide a real time measure of association between the different males and maybe providing a
means of mutual assistance in mating. Definitely more studies will need to be done. We look forward to
reading the results of future work and will eagerly share it with you.

What can we learn or use from their singing? We do understand the importance of communication
within the species. It is imperative these animals stay as a protected species, not just for our own
studies and observations, but so the future generations can hear, first hand, the amazing voices of the
deep. Building up a world-wide monitoring system would make it possible to learn much more about the
migration patterns of these giants. We at Whalesong hope to reach more scientists with our website who
could use our broadcast for their work and then discuss their experiences with us.

How long does a whale's song last? According to the experts, the song generally lasts from 5 to 20
minutes long and has a hierarchically organized sequence of sounds. There are specific sound units that
are organized into phrases , and these phrases then are repeated several times as a theme. The song,
often five to seven different themes, is often repeated without stopping, says Dr. Jim Darling.

Do humpback whales sing the same song everywhere? The unique dynamics of the song changes
collectively, which means all the singers within the population sing the same version. The song's rate
change may change however, with a complete turnover to a new song varying by area. In Bermuda one
study showed a complete turnover in five plus seasons. In Australia, it was two seasons. The songs differ
from population to population - the humpback whales of the North Pacific (Hawaii, Mexico, Japan) have a
different song than, for example, the humpback whales of the South Pacific (Australia and the Islands of
the South Pacific). Is this is a version of different dialects?

How far do the songs travel under water? Blue whales could once communicate from pole to pole -
that means halfway around the world! But due to increasing noise pollution of the oceans, this is believed
now to be nearly impossible. Researchers tell us noise under water travels five times faster than above.
Years ago while doing a humpback singing study, researchers working together in Mexico, Japan, and
Hawaii, found when the song altered slightly in Hawaii, within several days it also altered in Mexico and
Japan to match the Hawaiian singers. What this means has baffled researchers who promise to continue
their hard work toward a better understanding of these beautiful and mystifying animals.

Why do humpback whales breach? This behavior can be observed by all baleen whales, however the
humpback whales are considered to be the acrobats in the family. They screw their body to two thirds or
more out of the water, like turning on their own axle. With their powerful fluke they only need a few beats
to screw themselves out of the water. One can observe such jumps mainly in the breeding areas, also in
the waters of Hawaii! Therefore, it is assumed that this is a breeding behavior. Scientists also suppose
this is a way to communicate or to get rid of parasites. No matter why they do it, it is an overwhelming
spectacle!

How well can humpback whales see? Humpback whales can see well beneath and above the water
since the colors change under water. Their brown eyes are perfectly adapted: lachrymal glands produce a
fatfilm which protects the eye from saltwater. The lens is elastic and can be adjusted to the different light
conditions by muscle power. Humpback whales can see up to 400 feet under clear water. They can also
see equally well above the surface. According to research, cetaceans also have a tapetum, giving the eye
the ability to reflect light back through the retina increasing the light available. This is especially important
in low light conditions, but also important in water where things appear more blurry.

Can humpback whales see in color? Although the rod-like and cone-like receptors are present in the
eyes, according to researchers, the ability to discern colors in dolphin studies suggests that most likely
the cetaceans cannot see in color. The data to explore color vision for baleen whales is greatly lacking.

How long can humpback whales dive? Up to 45 minutes, but usually they dive 15-20 minutes
depending on what they are doing. If the whales are within a so called "competition group" (several
full-grown males are trying to get the best position to the one female in the group), they are travelling
with faster speed, fighting and breaching, which costs them a lot of energy. Then they must come up to
breathe after only 5-10 minutes. When the whales are avoiding loud vessel engines, researchers have
observed them staying down 45 minutes in the same position, coming up at the same spot they went
down 45 minutes before. In the feeding grounds of Alaska and Canada, the longest downtime observed
was 55 minutes. It is also known they are capable of depths of 600 feet, according to Dr. Adam Pack,
who tagged humpbacks in Hawaii last year. This astounded the science community who all asked, "what
are they doing down there?" Hopefully we'll have answers soon.

What is a spout? If a humpback whale is coming to the surface to breathe after a dive, it exhales air with
a speed of more than 300 m/h. The whales are utilizing about 90% of their lung capacity of 2500 gallons -
in comparison with humans, which utilize about 15% when breathing normally! Their lungs are very large
and when they exhale they force the warm air through a small sinus opening, forcing the air to cool in
nano seconds (like air in a compressed can). This shows up as a tall vapor, which can be as high as 15',
bushy to heart shaped for a humpback whale. The exhalation is also called spout, or blow. The inhaled
amount of oxygen is "stored" in their blood and to 40% in their muscles which enables the whales to go
as deeply as 600 feet or more and stay down up to 55 minutes (recorded in the feeding grounds). The
whalers years ago knew that every species of whale had their own signature shape of exhalation and
could tell from a distance what type of animal was traveling in the area.

Do humpback whales sleep? It's not exactly sleep - it is more like doze. Humpbacks are not ‘conscious
breathers', which means they have to think of breathing (just like we human beings) under water.
Nevertheless, researchers believe they have the ability to switch off half of their brain to relax. The other
half of their brain is thinking of breathing, being aware of predators like orcas, or taking care of the baby if
it is a mother.
What do humpback whales feed on? They feed mainly on 'krill' (or small crustaceans which look
like shrimp about 2 inches long) and on small fish such as herring, mackerel, capelin, scad, sand lance,
small salmon, and cod. The name krill originates from the Norwegian word "kril" which means "small
fry of fish (1907)". In the cold Arctic and Antarctic waters, these krill are found in large close swarms.
Humpback whales eat up to a ton of feed per day when they are in cooler waters to build up a thick
fat layer, called "blubber". They live on this blubber during the winter months when they stay in
warmer waters where less food is available. The blubber layer on a large whale can be up to 18" thick!

Do humpback whales eat the oceans empty? That is the argument of the Japanese lobbyists for
commercial whaling, who claim that the whales will deplete all the fish stocks, but it is not true! Humpback
whales are not able to eat big fish which we humans prefer (like tuna, perch or swordfish) because their
throat only has a diameter of only 6-8 inches or the size of a cantaloupe! If a bigger fish came into its
mouth, the humpback whale would have to spit it out to avoid chocking. The types of fish the humpback
whales eat are not overfished, yet. The greatest danger to the fish supply comes from humans who are
about to destroy global food supplies by overfishing.

How do humpback whales hunt it's prey? Humpback whales have developed different hunting
techniques. Sometimes they simply swim through a large swarm of krill with an open mouth taking in
tons of water and krill. In order to be able to take up such masses in the mouth, the throat grooves
expand greatly. The water exits the mouth through the baleen plates when the tongue is pressed to
the roof of the mouth. On a large whale, the tongue alone can weigh 2 tons! The small crustaceans
or fish are caught behind the baleen plates (see also: What are baleen plates?) and then swallowed.

A very specific technique of the Humpback whale can be observed: sometimes four to six whales unite
in a group, diving down and circling a swarm of krill or fish. While circling and slowly emerging to the
surface, the whales discharge air so that a net of bubbles develops. These bubbles force the prey in the
center of the circle and what looks like a circle of ascending bubbles emerges, resulting in a spectacular
event where several humpback whales with open mouth suddenly appear at one time taking up what they
caught in this net of bubbles. What fascinates researchers is the whales can control the bubble sizes.
Small bubbles for small prey like krill and larger bubbles for fish! Researchers have also discovered that
the feeding groups may be established friends that may feed together every year for a lifetime. Dr. Fred
Sharpe discovered also that there appears to be a ‘senior' member who does a "siren call" and is also
seen to be the first whale to the surface. More research is being done to try and unlock the secrets of
feeding behaviors with humpback whales, the only whale on the planet known to use bubbles in this way.

What are baleen plates? Baleen plates are made of keratin and grow down from the upper gum line
where teeth used to be. Baleen whales have not been on the planet as long as toothed whales. What
caused the division within the family is unknown, but most likely had to do with feeding. Baleen whales
take many prey at once, toothed whales eat one at a time. The number and length of the baleen plates
differs between different types of whales. Humpback whales have approximately 270-400 of black fringed
plates, which grow to be about 2-3 feet long with a large animal. (In a bowhead's mouth they can be up
to 7 feet long!). They consist of material similar to human fingernails or hooves of cattle and horses. The
baleen plates are arranged in lamella form and serve as a filter for food. The prey gets caught behind the
bristly edges when the whale closes its mouth and is swallowed whole. Another interesting fact is different
species of baleen whales also have different widths, lengths, and color of baleen. For years scientists
have hoped to age baleen whales by counting the growth lines on the baleen (similar to ridges on some
fingernails), but this study was abandoned upon the realization that to obtain many expired animals of
each species is impossible and knowing that the baleen on the ends wears away, leaves more questions
than answers. With newborn humpbacks, their baleen is white to grey, according to researchers, and in
the front of their mouths, the baleen is either absent, or only a couple of inches long. By the time the little
one is weaned (as early as 6 months), the baleen will have grown down to where it should be. Baleen
continually grows throughout the whale's life, the ends becoming worn and frayed, but always present.

The Humpback Song

Acoustics is a major area of study for whale researchers. The humpback whales' song is probably the
most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers study their songs and use this information in many
areas of marine research and technology.

The humpback song, which is made up of repeated themes, can last for up to 30 minutes and some
humpbacks sing for hours at a time! Only the males sing and all male humpbacks in the same region
sing the same song. The song itself changes over time, making it different from year to year. The songs
generally occur during the breeding season, suggesting that they are related to breeding. But researchers
are still asking why do male humpbacks sing?

Whale Hearing
In addition to singing, humpbacks also hear well. Sound is exceptionally important to marine mammals
living in the ocean (a very noisy place). Hearing is a well-developed sense in all cetaceans, largely
because of the sensitive reception of waterborne vibrations through bones in the head. Take a look at the
size of a whale's head compared to its entire skeleton. You will notice that the head comprises up to one
third of the total body length. The whale ear is a tiny opening that closes underwater. The bone structure
of the middle and inner ears is modified from that of terrestrial (land-based) mammals to accommodate
hearing underwater.

Let's Dissect the Song

Humpback whales produce moans, grunts, blasts and shrieks. Each part of their song is made up of
sound waves. Some of these sound waves are high frequency. If you could see these sounds, they would
look like tall, pointed mountains. Whales also emit low frequency sound waves. These waves are like
hills that are wide spread apart. These sound waves can travel very far in water without losing energy.
Researchers believe that some of these low frequency sounds can travel more than 10,000 miles in some
levels of the ocean!

Sound frequencies are measured in units called Hertz. The range of frequencies that whales use are from
30 Hertz (Hz) to about 8,000 Hz, (8 kHZ). Humans can only hear part of the whales' songs. We aren't
able to hear the lowest of the whale frequencies. Humans hear low frequency sounds starting at about
100 Hz.

Whale Songs Similar to Other Animals

Researchers have noted that whale songs sound very similar to the songs of hoofed animals, such as.
Elk (bugleing), cattle (mooing), and have more than a passing resemblance to some of the elephant
noises. One of the leading researchers into humpback whale sounds, Katy Payne, also studies elephant
sounds and has found similarities between these two species.

Where are Sounds Produced?

The larynx was originally thought to be the site of sound production in cetaceans but experiments on
live, phonating dolphins showed that the larynx does not move during vocalizations. Instead there are
structures in the nasal system including the nasal plug and the elaborate nasal sac system which move
when sound is produced, although the exact site of the sound generation is still debated. You can read
more about this fascinating subject in book called BIOLOGY OF MARINE MAMMALS, by Reynolds and
Rommel.

Characteristics

What is the length of a humpback whale?

Calves can be about 15 feet in length. Adults are about 45-50 feet.

How do researchers recognize one humpback from another?

Humpbacks are distinguished by the markings on the underside of their tails (also known as flukes). The
patterns can range from all black to all white, with most having a mix. The researchers pick out
distinguishing marks (which may also be scars -scars on the white portion appear dark and scars on the
darkportions of the tails appear white). A whale named "Cat's Paw" has a mark on her tail that looks just
like a paw print. Since humpbacks lift their tails out of the water when they dive,
researchers can see and photograph the flukes, allowing for identification.

Is fluke pigmentation inherited from the parents?

Fluke pigmentation may be influenced by inheritance from the parents. Researchers report that
pigmentation varies among individuals from all black to all white, with every grade in between.
Superimposed on the basic pattern are scars from injuries acquired during fights with other individuals,
attacks by killer whales or sharks, or attachment of parasites such as barnacles, parasitic copepods,
lampreys, or others. Injuries to white skin cause black scars and vice versa.

How do the whale researchers keep track of the individual whales?

Humpback whales originally were identified by a catalog number. But as those numbers started to grow,
the researchers decided they needed a better way to distinguish between the animals (especially when
they were in the field). The habit of giving the whales common names began, but now a problem
arose. There were several groups studying whales, and often the groups gave the same whale different
names. It was decided that the groups would come together every year at a whale naming party and
assign specific nam es to each of the newly found whales.

What kinds of requirements are there for naming the humpbacks?

Whale names should be descriptive about one of some of the whale's markings (usually on the underside
of its flukes). Humpbacks have distinctive markings on their tails, patterns of black and white, that usually
don't change after the first year or two. For example, one whale has a pattern that looks like a cat's
paw print, hence its name Cat's Paw. One whale has a marking that looks like the number 7, hence its
name Seven.
Does the hump serve any purpose to the humpback whale?
The hump (or lump just in front of the dorsal fin) led to its name, but it isn't known if this feature serves
any purpose.

Why do baleen whales have 2 nostrils and toothed whales have one? Is there a scientific reason
for the difference?
Scientists believe there may be an evolutionary reason for this difference, perhaps in symmetry in the
skull and the development of echolocation. Toothed whales echolocate, using their air passages to
generate sounds (air is moved between sacs under the blowhole to generate high-pitched sounds) . We
do not think that baleen whales use echolocation or, if so, to a much more limited extent. However, baleen
whales do generate very low-frequency sounds that may allow for extremely long-distance communication.

Humpbacks are known as the acrobats of the ocean, often seen breaching (jumping out of the
water), and flipper and tail slapping. For what purpose are these actions?
These activities performed by surface active groups are usually involved in breeding behaviors.
Researchers think the males are competing for the chance to mate with available females. Some of the
behaviors shown were breaching, flipper/pec (pectoral fin) slapping and tail slapping. Breaches and slaps,
in addition to being aggressive displays during courtship, may also be a play behavior in juvenile and
adult whales Breaches and slaps may also be used to remove pesky barnacles or old skin (a form of
grooming).

How long can a humpback whale stay under water before coming up for air?
According to scientists at the Center for Coastal Studies, a humpback can probably stay
underwater for as long as 35 minutes. However, on average up in the Gulf of Maine, the length of time is
only about 3-5 minutes (feeding in a fairly shallow area). In the West Indies, the average is 10-15 minutes.

How do whales breath?

Humpback whales are voluntary breathers meaning they have to consciously breath in and out (it's not an
involuntary reaction like we have). They swim to the surface to draw in air through their blowholes.
Whales have limited breathing functions through their mouths. When a whale inhales, it fills up its lungs to
capacity each tie and then exhales 90% of its air supply with each breath. Humans exhale only 25% of
their lung capacity. The whales exhale through the blowholes, a whole exhale in less than half a second
and sometimes at over 300 mp, while inhaling takes place in a leisurely second.

What adaptations have whales made for voluntary breathing?

Voluntary breathing is an important adaptation for whales. They must constantly be aware of their location
in the water. Since they are mammals and can drown if they flood their lungs with seawater, they must
know when it's safe to take a breath. It is believed that the area around their blowholes is very sensitive
and allows them to know when they have broken through the surface to the air.

How do whales sleep if they must remember to breath?

Scientists believe whales sleep half a brain at a time (based on studies with dolphins). Whales are known
to log at the surface -- a resting behavior. Boats can often approach quite close at this time during
whalewatching, and it is a time when animals can be in great danger from fast-moving boats unaware of
their presence. The animal has probably shut down half its brain, keeping a part active enough to sense
when it is moving away from the surface, when to make adjustments with its flippers and flukes, and when
to take a breath. After a while the whale will become fully awake.

Why do you think the male Humpback Whales sing? What are they trying to communicate?
The males (and only the males) in the warm breeding waters are famous for their songs - long series of
vocalizations that can last for up to 30 minutes. Maybe they are intended to let other animals know where
they are and who they are. The songs don't seem to be way of attracting partners, as most females
seem to avoid the singers. The whales that sing on the breeding grounds seem to have the same song,
although there may be some small variations. As the season progresses, the songs change too. There
is still very much about these whales that we know so little about (and opportunities for all of you future
field biologists).

Have scientists been able to interpret the sounds whales send to each other?
Scientists are studying whale sounds and attempting to understand their "languages." Sperm whales
communicate with click patterns and blue whales produce very loud sounds. Humpbacks (males) are
famous for their songs, which are probably involved in mating rituals and to declare territories. Scientists
have been able to record songs that are repeated units of sound -- some can last as long as 20 minutes.
At first scientists though this song was like a bird's song, but it was discovered that the songs change year
to year.

Life Cycle

How often do humpbacks give birth?

Most females give birth every two or three years, but several females have borne calves annually.

Do humpbacks ever have twins?

Humpbacks and other whales have only one baby at a time. A whale has never been seen with two live
young, however, there were reports during whaling days of a pregnant whale with two fetuses.

What is their gestation period?

Pregnancy lasts for 11 to 12 months.

How big are the calves when they are born?

The calves are usually about 13 to 15 feet (3.75-4.5 meters) long at birth. They nurse for up to a year and
grow about 1.5 feet (45 cm) per month.

Does the mother stay with the calves for a long time?
Mothers stay with their calves at least a year. They are very protective of their calves. A mother will not
abandon her calf, even in extreme danger. Early whale hunters took advantage of this behavior, first
killing a calf, then killing the mother, who refused to leave the carcass.

Ecology

How much food does a whale eat in one day?

A humpback whale may eat up to a ton of food a day in its feeding grounds (2,000 pounds of sand lance
in the Gulf of Maine or a similar amount of krill in more northern waters). The right whale may be
eating about 2,625 pounds of copepods a day when it's in Cape Cod Bay or another feeding ground.

What do humpbacks eat when they come up to Stellwagen Bank and the Gulf of Maine?
When they are up north at Stellwagen Bank, which has a nice sandy surface, they are feeding primarily on
sand lance -- a small bait fish which is also called the sand eel. Obviously, by its name, the fish likes
sandy habitats where it digs itself into the sediments to hide. The fish is about 5-6 inches long and pencil
thin. Out of the sand, these fish often crowd into large schools or "balls," making feeding quite efficient for
the humpback whales.

Elsewhere in the Gulf of Maine, where sandy bottoms are not as prevalent, humpbacks may be feeding on
herring, mackerel, and other small fish, as well as krill and squid. If these prey items are on
Stellwagen, the whales will eat them too.

What do the humpbacks eat down in the Caribbean?

Down in the Caribbean the whales are not eating. They live off their reserves of fat called blubber. The
mothers spend their time nursing their young, while the other adults are busy mating. The warm
waters of the Caribbean are not as productive as northern waters (less phytoplankton, less zooplankton,
less fish). That's why they are so clear and the northern waters so murky. The whales usually feed
enough in the northern waters to last them through their winter's fast.

Why don't humpback whales eat during the winter in Caribbean waters?
Caribbean waters are so nice for photography because they are so clear. But that clarity also indicates
that the waters are less rich in nutrients, phytoplankton and zooplankton. This reduction in small life
forms also leads to fewer fish in the food chain. There may be great diversity of life in tropical waters, but
you don't see the immense schools of fish that can be found farther north. Humpback whales go to the
warmer southern waters to calve and breed, but they don't go there to feed. They gorge themselves on
schools of sand lance, herring and other small fish (and krill in other northern waters) when they come up
north in the summer.

What makes the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary a good place for whales to go?
The answer is upwelling -- a movement of deep, nutrient rich water to the surface. In a global picture,
most upwelling takes place along the western edge of continents. Winds cause surface waters to
move offshore, allowing deep water to flow upwards to take its place. Stellwagen Bank is one such
example of an upwelling. When underwater currents encounter an obstruction, the water has to flow
somewhere (it cannot be compressed). The only place for this mass of water to go is up. As the rich water
settles on top of the bank it provides the nutrients needed by the base of the food chain. Upwelling areas
around the world are rich in marine life and are usually important feeding grounds for whales.

What is "upwelling" and how does upwelling affect the ocean food chains?
Upwelling is the movement of deep cold ocean water to the surface. It brings nutrient rich waters to
surface. It effects food chains by bringing more food to the surface so organisms in that area have more
food. Plants using these nutrients will grow, the herbivore has food, and the small and large carnivores
also will eat.

How does the food chain work in the ocean?

In the ocean, animals live and die. Their waste products and bodies (after they die) sink to the ocean floor,
there they are decomposed by bacteria and transformed into basic nutrients, such as phosphates and
nitrates. These materials are needed by photosynthetic organisms (plants, protists and some
bacteria) for growth. In turn, small floating animals called zooplankton eat the phytoplankton. Zooplankton
are eaten by small fish, jellyfish, filter-feeding crustaceans and mollusks and many other creatures
(including some whales like the right whale), these small animals are eaten by larger animals (including
some whales like humpbacks), and large fish are eaten by sharks and orcas.

Where do the humpbacks go during the winter?

The whales we see at Stellwagen Bank are presently down in the Caribbean, around Silver Bank, for their
winter calving and breeding season. Although they are most concentrated at Silver Bank, and Navidad
Bank close by, humpbacks can also be found from the Bahamas to the Grenadines.

Why would some whales stay and why do others head down to the Caribbean?
It seems that most of the whales do head down to the Caribbean, but in past years not all of the whales
made the trip. It is believed that some of the juvenile whales, that may not yet be interested or capable
of breeding, may stay to feed in areas where prey is still plentiful. Over the past few years, young
humpbacks were seen off the Virginia coast during the winter -- probably feeding on small fish.

Different groups of humpbacks migrate north in a certain order. Which ones migrate first and
why?
Whale researchers believe that the first group of whales to head north is the group of pregnant females
and resting females who have had calves in the previous year. Why would these be first? It is thought that
it is because they can get to the feeding grounds to start building up blubber reserves and to provide
nutrition to the growing fetus. The resting females would be recovering strength from the rigors of birthing
and nursing. The second wave of whales is usually juveniles those who are not concerned with mating yet
so they wouldn't have to stick around down south, and they are still undergoing fast growth. These
juveniles would be followed by adult males and females who stayed behind in the Caribbean as long as
possible in order to mate. The last group to head to northern waters are the mothers and calves. The
calves stayed back to build up their strength (through nursing on their mother's rich milk).

Why do you suppose the young humpbacks remained off the Virginia coast rather than migrate?
Researchers believe that if large amounts of prey are available, young whales may find the food more
irresistible than the urge to migrate -- since there's not much for them to do in the breeding grounds.

Where do the Caribbean whales go when they leave the Caribbean?

The whales in the Caribbean come from the Western North Atlantic stock of humpbacks. When they head
north, these whales separate out into five herds that swim to specific feeding grounds: 1) Gulf of Maine
(including Stellwagen Bank)/Scotian Shelf; 2) Gulf of St. Lawrence; 3) Newfoundland/Labrador; 4)
southwestern Greenland; and 5) Iceland-Denmark Strait. Individual whales usually return to the
same regions every summer, with mothers bringing their babies with them to join the feeding herd.

What about the humpbacks in the Southern Pacific?

In the Southern Atlantic whales migrate to and from the coasts of Brazil and the mid-African coast to the
Southern Ocean.

Are there any humpbacks in the Pacific Ocean?

In the Pacific there are several stocks. The Eastern North Pacific stock feeds along the coasts of British
Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California (in all of the west coast National Marine Sanctuaries
including Olympic Coast, Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones, Monterey Bay and Channel Islands).
These whales travel down to central Mexico, Baja California and even Central America (see last week's
report) for calving.

Aren't there whales around the Hawaiian Islands?

Another group of North Pacific whales uses the quiet, warm waters around the Hawaiian Islands for
calving (another National Marine Sanctuary). These whales travel to southeastern Alaska
(although they can occasionally be found off the coast of British Columbia).

Are there humpbacks in the Southern Pacific?

In the southern Pacific there is an Antarctic stock which feeds in the Southern Ocean during their summer
and calves in the waters around Australia and New Zealand in the winter. Another stock can be found just
east of the Australian whales. They too feed in the Southern Ocean and have been found in much of the
South Pacific, including American Samoa (site of another National Marine Sanctuary). Whalewatching
(particularly through nature tours of the Galapagos Islands) has also caught on along the Pacific Coast of
South America. Whales calve in the warm tropical and subtropical waters and move south to the
temperate and polar waters to feed.