Surprising Humpback Whale Songs in Glacier Bay National Park

Abstract

Exciting research in Glacier Bay National Park is leading researchers to reevaluate previous concepts about humpback whale singing. Prior to the present research, humpback whales were thought to sing rarely in their summer feeding areas, and songs were predominantly associated with the winter mating season. With the installation of an underwater acoustic monitoring system in May 2000, researchers have found that humpback whales sing frequently in Alaskan waters, in late summer and early fall. The acoustic monitoring system, intended primarily to record ambient noise and vessel traffic, has provided many hours of humpback and killer whale vocalizations relevant to a variety of research interests. By describing Alaska whale songs and comparing them with recordings made in Hawaii, advances will hopefully be made in current knowledge about the functions of the songs and the humpback whale mating system.