Have You Ever Heard a Whale Sing?

The beach can be a very noisy place. Eeee, eee, eeee! The gulls cry. Woooooo, hoooo. The wind howls.

Wusssh, dussh. The waves rise and crash.

Now imagine that instead of being close to the ocean, you are under it. It isn’t much quieter down there!

Tuk, tuk, tuk! crackles the snapping shrimp.

Hroah, hroah, hroak! grunts the lemonfish.

Woaaaaah eee ee ooo woooah rrr aaah!

Woaaaaah eee ee ooo woooah rrr aaah!

What’s that sound?

Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! A boat passes by.

It’s whales, singing in the distance —strong, loud and melodious! Whales sing short and long songs. Some songs last just a few minutes. Some songs can go on for half an hour.

Whales can also sing the same song for hours on end.

There are many kinds of whales. Blue Whales and Grey Whales are named after colours.

Humpback Whales and Bowhead Whales are named after the shapes of their backs and heads.

Omura’s Whales and Bryde’s Whales are named after people. Omura’s whale is named after Hideo Omura, a whale biologist. Bryde’s whale is named after Johan Bryde, a whaling businessman.

Songs vary between different species of whales.

A Blue Whale will sing a different song from a Fin Whale, just like humans speak different languages.

Humpback whales are excellent composers. They mix and match notes together.

If you listen carefully, you can tell that each song is made up of patterns of several notes.

Blue whales sing much simpler songs. Their songs consist of just a note or two.

But they make up for it by being very loud! Blue Whales can be heard over 1,000 km away. Imagine a friend singing in Bengaluru and you being able to hear them in Mumbai!

Bowhead Whales that live in the cold Arctic ocean are also musicians. All through winter, during days and nightsof complete darkness, Bowhead Whales sing their songs under the frozen surface of the sea.

Not just one song, but many different ones.

Fin Whale songs are so low-pitched that humans can't hear them.

Scientists place specially built microphones and recorders in the ocean to hear them!

Why do whales sing? As far as we know, only male whales sing. Scientists think that it is to impress female whales or tell each other, “Look what a powerful voice I have, this means that I am bigger and stronger than you!” We may not understand what these songs mean, but we do know that they are beautiful to listen to.