The 2008 Songline Cycle. Peak frequency shift at 6:00

http://songlinesofthewhales.org

The 2008 East Australian Humpback Whale Song. Three whales in close proximity singing in harmony.

The song is constant. We record twenty four hours a day. The song never ceases. The whales create this soundscape, we feel, to give solace to the newborn in the hours of darkness. In the dark of night, in the deep ocean, only the stars and the song bring hope for the dawn.

The Whales are each singing the identical 12 minute cycle, although they have each commenced the cycle at different intervals. So a low frequency pulse may be responded to by a high frequency pulse; also giving them Sonar (Sound and Navigation Ranging) feedback on each other's position.

We base our cycle timing on the brief crescendo to the high frequency pulse at 06:00 minutes. Note the subtle but definite descent in frequency of each of the passages syncopated by low frequency staccato pulses. Viewed with a spectrogram the low frequency pulses can be seen to be very precise chords of frequencies. These are very clear and consistent characteristics of the Whale Song cycles we have recorded over the past twenty years and the focus of a paper we are working on.

The 06:00 minute pulse when viewed with a spectrogram ascends into the 48kHz range. The human ear is only 'specified' to a maximum 24kHz frequency response. The technical specifications for the frequency response of both our stereo hydrophones and our digital recorder are to 96kHz maximum. Thus using the spectrogram software we can see but not hear the syncopation in the upper frequencies.

The song is clearly audible through the hull of the research vessel. Depending on the proximity of the singer, the song is also audible standing on the deck. The sound pressure level of their song is reduced significantly once it passes into the air. Whales speak to each other constantly. The cadence and syncopation of their normal conversations are much different from that of their songs. They often make sounds above water through their blow holes.

Because water is denser than air it is a much better conduit for sound. If a singer is close you can hear him in much the same way standing on the deck as our recordings sound on YouTube. Of course the moment you enter the water, which we don't because it is illegal and unnecessary, the sound is felt at it's full sound pressure level, the equivalent of a jack hammer or loud rock concert.

We are working on several papers related to whale language. The term language in relation to Humpback Whales is not yet accepted by the scientific community so we are careful about using it. Although we firmly believe that whales of all species have highly evolved languages.

Three researchers in Hawaii, two computer engineers and a marine biologist, have created a computer application to asses the entropy of whale sounds (loss of energy from a system in this case sound frequency) and have compared them to a range of human languages. They have concluded that Humpback sounds are equivalent to human languages. They used the recordings of Dr. Roger and Katy Payne, made in the 1970s, who were the first scientists to recognize that the unique sounds made by Humpback Whales were in fact conscious, complex evolving songs.

To celebrate the annual return of the Humpback Whales, sixty Australian communities are participating in the Humpback Icon Project. Each of these communities has adopted a known individual Humpback Whale from The Oceania Project's Fluke Catalogue:

http://bit.ly/HumpbackIconProject

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• humpback
• whale
• dolphin
• cetacea
• research
• oceania
• iwhales
• migaloo

[aronevans]

Amazing Sounds!

[DawnAkemi]

Rhythmic, melodic, deeply meditative, and clearly sentient... you've captured something special in these expressive and moving communications. I believe if we keep opening our minds and hearts, we will understand their language.

[VientoPlanetario1]

Maravillosa conexiòn con el agua y el sonido. En Argentina no tiene imagen. ¿ Sera asi para apreciarlo màs ? Susana

[FallingWaterLaborato]

Heightens the senses as listening ensues. 

[histeryacrush]

this is the most beautiful sound on earth!!!! is

[judoisoww]

nothing sounds more like a song language out of mythical tales than this

[Lildoc35]

Man can never match such beautiful

soothing sounds, coming from these

magnificant whales, it truly touches

my soul. Thank you for all you do

for these beautiful creatures and

for keeping the world aware of their

need of protection. 5***** video

Peace and God Bless

[enjoythevoyage]

Your videos about whales are always outstanding as is your work on behakf of the whales! keep up your critical work! I love this video! 5 magnificent stars!

[paraulataviajera]

This is wonderful, thanks to share this incredible language of the whales.

[Hiromacu]

Thank you for this amazing whale song. Save them all these beautiful animals.