Humpback Whale Songs

"Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do!"

Scientists have new evidence that humpback whales don't just sing--they sing grammatically, combining sounds into phrases, and phrases into songs, according to complex rules called a "hierarchical syntax." It's similar to our ability to combine words into clauses and clauses into sentences.

The study, which squares with research dating back to 1971, says this is the first time non-human animals have been proven to possess such syntactic skill. Still, the researchers are quick to point out that whale songs aren't really comparable to reading the newspaper. "Humpback songs are not like human language," says project leader Ryuji Suzuki, "but elements of language are seen in their songs."

Of course, humpback whales might point out that reading the newspaper isn't half as cool as all the stuff they can do.

Uproarious Rorquals

Humpbacks hail from the family of whales called "rorquals," which includes the fin whale, the sei whale, and the blue whale, the world's largest animal. Blue whales can grow to 100 feet (30 meters) and weigh up to 330,000 pounds (150 metric tons), bigger than any dinosaur we've yet discovered.

At 45 feet (14 meters) and 80,000 pounds (36 metric tons), humpbacks aren't nearly as big as cousin Blue. But they can sing and dance. Humpbacks are the most vocal of all whales, and among the most acrobatic.

Sometimes they leap entirely out of the ocean. It's common among males during mating season, when humpbacks migrate from polar feeding grounds to tropical breeding grounds. It's also during mating season that humpback males sing their syntactically sophisticated songs, presumably in pursuit of humpback gals.

Straining for Snacks

Like all rorquals, humpbacks are baleen whales. They feed by taking huge mouthfuls of seawater--literally tons of it--then forcing the water out between hundreds of plates of baleen (a.k.a. "whalebone") that hang from the roofs of their mouths. The baleen plates work like a sieve, letting water out but keeping krill and other munchable marine life in.

To catch that seafood dinner, humpbacks sometimes use a unique technique called "bubblenetting." First, one or more humpbacks swim in a circle beneath a school of fish, blowing bubbles that float up to form a wall around their prey. Then the humpbacks swim up through their "bubblenet," slurping the fish-filled water as they go.

Just follow the links below to see a humpback whale feed in a bubblenet for yourself. Or listen for the syntax of their songs. Some things--and a humpback whale song is one--we can't explain, only experience.

Steve Sampson
March 24, 2006

Want to learn more?
Hear humpbacks sing
Watch humpbacks fish
Do a little whale watching