by A team of researchers with members from the University of St Andrews, Universidad San Francisco de Quito and the CETACEA Ecuador Project's Acoustic Ecology Program has found that songs created by humpback whales in some parts of the Pacific Ocean are mimicked by whales in other parts of the ocean.
Prior research has shown that humpback whales sing intricate songs—some of them are quite long, lasting up to 30 minutes.
It is not known why the whales sing the songs, but oceanographers suspect they do so likely for the same reason that many birds, humans and other species sing—to attract a mate.
In any case, the song sung by any given individual is shared by others in a pod, with very minor differences.
But sometimes, bigger changes are made by an individual for unknown reasons. When that happens, the others in the pod make the same change.
Source
Prior research has shown that humpback whales sing intricate songs—some of them are quite long, lasting up to 30 minutes.
It is not known why the whales sing the songs, but oceanographers suspect they do so likely for the same reason that many birds, humans and other species sing—to attract a mate.
In any case, the song sung by any given individual is shared by others in a pod, with very minor differences.
But sometimes, bigger changes are made by an individual for unknown reasons. When that happens, the others in the pod make the same change.
Source
