Researchers in Australia think that singing played an outsized role in attracting mates when populations were severely depleted.
WASHINGTON — Those melancholy tunes sung by humpback whales may really be a sign of loneliness.
“Humpback whale song is loud and travels far in the ocean,” said marine biologist Rebecca Dunlop, who has studied humpback whales that breed near the Great Barrier Reef for more than two decades.As whale numbers dramatically rebounded following the end of commercial whaling — one of the world’s great conservation success stories — she noticed something unexpected.
Scientists first began to hear and study the elaborate songs of humpback whales in the 1970s, thanks to new underwater microphones. Only male whales sing, and the tunes are thought to play a role in attracting mates and asserting dominance. “As animal populations recover, they change their behavior — they have different constraints,” said marine biologist Boris Worm of Canada’s Dalhousie University, who was not involved in the study.
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