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https://aeon.co/videos/like-pop-music-humpback-whale-songs-spread-mutate-and-fall-out-of-fashion>
"Since the discovery of humpback whale songs in the 1960s, the exact reason why
male humpbacks sing has puzzled scientists. Like other marine mammals,
humpbacks use vocalisations to communicate, but they’re the only animals
besides humans to produce sounds that combine repetition and complex patterns,
akin to pop music. Each year, during mating season, all of the males within a
population learn the same song. And, according to Ellen Garland, a Royal
Society University Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews in Scotland,
these songs spread over time to other populations, and have even been found to
travel halfway across the globe. In this video, Garland charts the journey of
humpback whale songs across the Pacific Ocean. Through this framework, she
builds a comparison between the way pop music spreads across cultures, and
details the many enduring mysteries surrounding humpback whale songs."
Via Esther Schindler.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
