page_title: Humpback whale
section_title: Song
hierarchical_section_title: Humpback whale / Behavior / Song
caption_attribution_description: English: Spectrogram of Humpback Whale Song.
context_page_description: The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. It is one of the larger rorqual species, with adults ranging in length from 12–16 m and weighing around 25–30 metric tons. The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Males produce a complex song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time. All the males in a group will produce the same song, which is different each season. Its purpose is not clear, though it may help induce estrus in females.
  Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 km each year. They feed in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth, fasting and living off their fat reserves. Their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net technique.
  Like other large whales, the humpback was a target for the whaling industry.
context_section_description: Both male and female humpback whales vocalize, but only males produce the long, loud, complex "song" for which the species is famous. Each song consists of several sounds in a low register, varying in amplitude and frequency and typically lasting from 10 to 20 minutes. Individuals may sing continuously for more than 24 hours. Cetaceans have no vocal cords, instead, they produce sound via a larynx-like structure found in the throat, the mechanism of which has not been clearly identified. Whales do not have to exhale to produce sound.
  Whales within a large area sing a single song. All North Atlantic humpbacks sing the same song, while those of the North Pacific sing a different song. Each population's song changes slowly over a period of years without repeating.
  Scientists are unsure of the purpose of whale songs. Only males sing, suggesting one purpose is to attract females or to induce estrus in the females. However, many of the whales observed to approach a singer are other males, often resulting in conflict. Singing may, therefore, be a challenge to other males. Some scientists have hypothesized the song may serve an echolocative function. During the feeding season, humpbacks make unrelated vocalizations for herding fish into their bubble nets.
  Humpback whales make other sounds to communicate, such as grunts, groans, snorts and barks.
caption: Spectrogram of humpback whale vocalizations: detail is shown for the first 24 seconds of the 37-second recording "Singing Humpbacks". In this recording, the ethereal whale "songs" are heard before and after a set of communicative "clicks" in the middle.       Singing humpbacks  Recording of humpback whales singing and clicking.Problems playing this file? See media help.
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