Summary
Humpback whales emit long, patterned vocalizations referred to as ‘songs”. We analyzed songs from 22 recording sessions whick took place from January to April, 1980 on Silver Bank, Dominican Republic. The sequence of patterns (which we call “themes”) in these songs is remarkably regular. In this sample, there were 427 transitions from one theme to another. Only 20 of these did not follow the expected sequence. We present evidence that some themes are sung out of their usual order far more often than others. We also show that when themes are sung out of sequence, the whale is at the surface, blowing. This finding provides a link between the song structure and humpback behavior. Because aspects of the song structure can be linked to breathing, we hypothesize that a function of the songs is to show how long a whale can hold its breath, and that the duration of a song may be an indication of stamina and physical condition.
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Chu, K., Harcourt, P. Behavioral correlations with aberrant patterns in humpback whale songs. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 19, 309–312 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00295703
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00295703