The Songs of Humpback Whales Tell Us Where They’ve Traveled
Overanalyzing song lyrics is likely a fruitless proposition, but when it comes to whale songs, it can actually yield a wealth of information. According to a study published in The Royal Society Open Science, the songs of male humpback whales can tell us the migratory routes used by those whales, and the songs change as they meet whales from different regions. Clare Owen, a marine scientist and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, recorded the songs of 52 humpback whales in the South Pacific, from eastern Australia to French Polynesia, with some pretty fascinating results.