The Whales That Sing Jazz
Under the Arctic ice, a small population of bowhead whales sings constantly through the dark winter, and almost never sings the same song twice.
What was reported
Bowhead whales can live for more than 200 years, in the icy waters of the far north. In 2018, scientists published four years of recordings from hydrophones left in the sea off Svalbard, where a population once nearly wiped out by whaling is recovering.
They found the whales sang day and night through the winter, and that they had at least 184 distinct songs, with new ones each year and different songs within a season. Researchers compared it to jazz, against the more repetitive 'classical' songs of humpbacks.
Explanations offered
Only males are thought to sing, probably to attract mates, but why their songs change so much is a mystery. One idea is that with so few whales left, each one improvises to stand out.
- When
- Recorded 2010–2014
- Where
- Fram Strait, off Svalbard, Norway
- Witnesses
- Underwater microphones in the Arctic
- Status
- Explained
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