Bowhead whales are Anissa Kate the Widow XXXmysterious, Arctic-dwelling creatures. Scientists believe they can live for over two centuries, and even so, they largely avoid getting cancer. In the 1990s, an old stone spearhead -- a weapon that hadn't been used since the 1800's -- was found embedded in a bowhead whale's blubber. That whale had apparently survived a hunter's attack, over a century earlier.
Now, marine researchers say they've recorded bowheads singing an unprecedented number of songs. The marine mammals seem to be altering their songs each year, similar to how a jazz musician is constantly improvising.
“If humpback whale song is like classical music, bowheads are jazz," Kate Stafford, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, said in a press release.
SEE ALSO: Rhino experts aren’t banking on unproven IVF technology to rescue threatened speciesAfter listening to and analyzing three years of bowhead audio recordings, captured in Arctic waters east of Greenland, Stafford and her research team published their results on April 4 in the journal Biology Letters.
Whales are heavily reliant upon sound to communicate in their murky, undersea worlds. Humpback whale songs have been recorded extensively, and their haunting sounds can be heard online.
But as far as scientists can tell, humpbacks don't create such a novel diversity of songs each season.
"The sound is more freeform," said Stafford. "And when we looked through four winters of acoustic data, not only were there never any song types repeated between years, but each season had a new set of songs."
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Between 2010 and 2014, the bowheads were found singing 24 hours a day during the winter months. They sang mostly between November and March. The songs typically lasted between hours and days, and only rarely did a song continue to be in use for a month.
These song lengths might strike us as odd, since we're used to three and a half minute pop songs. But bowheads have developed their underwater cultures over millions of years, and like much of whale behavior, the meaning and structure of their songs remains cryptic.
"Why are they changing their songs so much?” asked Stafford. “In terms of behavioral ecology, it’s this great mystery."
Similar to some birds, the authors suggest that delivering song diversity might serve an adaptive advantage in attracting mates, though there's no evidence of this.
Bowhead whales are massive, plankton-eating mammals. Credit: UIG via Getty Images The researchers also suggested that the bowhead's impressive song diversity could be due to an expanding population, with new whales developing new songs. Or, due to vanishing sea ice cover in the warming Arctic, bowhead populations aren't as separated by thick masses of drifting ice floes as they once were.
But these explanations, the authors say, still wouldn't explain how much the songs change within each season.
Bowheads, and their curious lives, remain mostly inaccessible to humans. For instance, they sing under sea ice during the Arctic winter when its dark all day. We simply can't see what they're doing, even when then the massive mammals surface for air.
"We would never have known about this without new acoustic monitoring technology," said Stafford.
Who is SpaceX's first moon passenger, Yusaku Maezawa?
Amazon reveals Kindle Colorsoft: Pre
Android 15 new features: See the full list.
Top Microsoft AI researcher Sebastien Bubeck joins OpenAI team
NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for April 26: Tips to solve Connections #215
MoMA, Samsung team up to add modern artworks into the luxe Frame TV
Belgium vs. France 2024 livestream: Watch UEFA Nations League for free
NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for October 16: Tips to solve Connections #23.
Amazon Spring Sale 2025: Best Apple AirPods 4 deal
Instagram launches profile cards to share your profile with a QR code
Dell S3422DWG Gaming Monitor deal: save $100 at Amazon
Best fitness tech deal: Get a Samsung Galaxy Ring for as low as $328 at Amazon
Home Depot sale: Get up to 40% off select items
Best MagSafe charger deal: Get the 25W MagSafe charger for just $29 at Amazon.
Parental Controls: How to Lock Down Your Kids' iOS Devices
Canadiens vs. Penguins 2024 livestream: How to watch NHL for free
Wordle today: The answer and hints for October 17
Android 15 new features: See the full list.
NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for April 23: Tips to solve Connections #212
Best Amazon deal: Prime members save 50% on a refurbished Amazon Smart Thermostat
People are plotting to get back at the politicians who voted to sell your web dataThe U.S. version of the 'Love Actually' sequel will have one huge differenceHow Samsung addressed the Galaxy Note 7 at the S8 event todayTrolling will get worse before it gets better'Ghost in the Shell' has nothing to say about technology or humanityMeet Black Lightning, DC and CW's first AfricanFirst he became a rock, now French artist wants to be a chickenNew 'Dunkirk' footage is a heartSamsung's new Galaxy S8 inBest Anker deal: Save $16 on Anker 6SelfScore makes credit cards for the international students Trump wants to keep outWe totally agree with George W. Bush on Trump's inauguration speechNicki Minaj just added professional model to her already long résuméLorde's such a fan of Cadbury's Creme Egg that she sang about itNew photos reveal Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is going to be pretty swankyElon Musk draws farting unicorn to showcase Tesla's new Sketch Pad featureThe Galaxy S8's fingerprint sensor will send you into a rage spiralOculus software update harnesses power of new Gear VR controllerBrands are creating Snapchat 'Shows' with dreams of getting on DiscoverThis bathroom sign doesn't care about gender, as long as you wash your hands GE's new dishwasher will order detergent from Amazon for you 'Queer Eye' drops Season 3 teaser with new Carly Rae Jepsen jam: Watch Watch a space harpoon impale a chunk of space debris Jordan Peele's Lorena Bobbitt docuseries is worth evaluating: Review J.J. Abrams shares touching new photo from 'Star Wars: Episode IX' 'He was like an octopus': More women accuse Trump of sexual misconduct Opportunity rover's last picture is as grim as it is dark Report: Apple store employees stole and rated photos from customer phones Car monitoring system scans passengers to determine age, gender Jack Dorsey: Twitter is considering 'clarification' feature Man creates offensively cute 'Harry Potter' pensieve for his wedding Stolen cellphone records raccoon robber's high Police officers greet Trump with 'Make America Great Again' hats Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid's NFL lawsuit ends with a settlement El Nino is officially here. What does that mean for U.S. weather? What do all of the 2016 Nobel Prize winners have in common? Amazon's HQ2 decision screwed over cities in Middle America It's time to reclaim being single as a symbol of power Ford's clever bed stops your sleeping partner hogging the whole thing Pirated iOS apps are being distributed through Apple's enterprise developer program
1.3113s , 10132.5390625 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Anissa Kate the Widow XXX】,Miracle Information Network