Blue whales sing less when food is scarce. (Image credit: Eco2drew via Getty Images)
A recent study found that blue whales reduce their songs when hungry and increase them when food is plentiful. Scientists monitored the whales off the coast of California for six years and noticed that their singing increased after a heat wave, despite many media reports of blue whales becoming quieter.
Whales have a variety of vocal signals, but only males sing. There is evidence that males use their songs to attract females and interact with other males, said lead study author John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. “It’s an important aspect of how they perceive their environment and interact with each other,” he told Live Science.
Singing also gives researchers a way to study whales. Sound travels very efficiently underwater, so in a vast ocean, listening for animals can be more effective than looking for them, even though these creatures are the largest on the planet.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
