1Hi, it's Danni,
2and I've been listening to some amazing music!
3This is Victory Brinker.
4You may have seen her on this popular TV talent show.
5...
6Even though she's a kid, she's one of the best singers in the world.
7In fact, when she was just seven years old,
8she became the youngest professional opera singer ever.
9Yeah, check out how she hits those high notes!
10...
11Someone named Lucy is curious about singing
12but not the type of singing Victory or you and I do.
13Let's give Lucy a call now.
14Hi Danni.
15Hi Lucy.
16I have a question for you.
17Why do whales sing?
18Ooh, that's a great question.
19Whales love to make sounds.
20In fact, if there was a class of whales at your school,
21they'd be the noisiest class of all.
22Sometimes they whistle, like this,
23or sometimes they might squeak, like this.
24And listen to this beluga whale clicking.
25So cool!
26But making noises isn't all they do.
27Some whales do something really special.
28They sing.
29Let me show you.
30Here's a beluga whale squeaking.
31And here's a humpback singing.
32Can you tell the difference?
33It sounds a lot different than just a squeak or a whistle. Doesn't it?
34It almost sounds like music.
35We say a whale is singing when it makes different sounds and repeats those sounds over and over in a pattern.
36Kind of like when we repeat the same part of a song.
37Now, not all whales sing like that, only a few types.
38But the question is, why?
39Why do some whales sing sometimes instead of just making sounds?
40Before we go on, I'm curious.
41What do you think? Why do you think whales sing?
42Scientists have been curious about why whales sing for many years.
43They've stuck microphones in the water to record the whale songs
44and put tracking devices and recorders on whales to find out where they sing most.
45They've even put cameras on whales to see what they see, like right here.
46This is the view from a camera that is on an actual whale.
47You can see the whale swimming up to the surface.
48Over the years, these ocean experts have found a lot of clues about why whales might sing.
49Like so far, they've only heard the male whales sing
50and they sometimes sing when it's time to find a mate.
51Hmm, so could it be that whales are singing to find a partner?
52Could be.
53Whale songs travel a really long way, over hundreds and hundreds of miles.
54That would be like you singing at your house and someone hearing you from another city.
55So, singing would be a good way to attract the attention of a female partner that's really far away, right?
56But here's the thing,
57scientists have watched what females do when they hear the songs from males.
58And most of the time, the female whales just kind of ignore them.
59In fact, they've noticed that it's usually only the male whales
60who pay attention to the whale songs and are curious as to where they're coming from.
61So, the whole singing to find a partner thing might not be it.
62So, what else could it be?
63When trying to answer this question,
64it might be helpful to look at why other animals sing, like birds.
65Scientists have discovered that male birds like the nightingale
66sometimes sing to protect their homes from other birds and animals.
67So, could the whales be singing to protect their homes too?
68Maybe.
69Whales that live in the same area of the world sing almost exactly the same songs.
70So, maybe that unique song is a whale's way of saying, "Stay away!"
71"This is our home, our fish to eat, our water."
72But scientists aren't totally sure about that idea either.
73And that's because they've noticed that when whales from one pod hear a whale from another pod sing,
74they're not scared away.
75Not at all.
76In fact, they're curious.
77Sometimes they'll even swim up to the singing whale to see what's up
78and bump them a little and then just swim away.
79So, singing doesn't really seem like a good way to keep other whales away
80but it does seem like a good way to communicate with other whales in their pod.
81Think about it.
82We already know that whale songs travel super far in the water.
83And since whales from the same pod sing the same song,
84they'll recognize that song when someone from their family is singing
85and that could be pretty helpful, especially during feeding time.
86Every year, humpback and blue whales have to travel thousands of miles to get to their feeding grounds
87and they don't want to get separated from their pods along the way.
88So, some scientists are beginning to think that since each group of whales has their own special song,
89singing is a way these whales communicate
90and keep track of each other during the trip.
91Kind of like saying, "Hey Mom, I'm over here."
92That kind of makes sense.
93In fact, all these ideas do,
94which brings us back to our question.
95Why do whales sing?
96Well, there are a lot of possible answers.
97It could be that they're singing to find a partner
98or maybe they're singing to communicate with each other when they're heading to their feeding grounds
99or maybe they sing for all sorts of reasons like you and I do.
100The truth is whale songs are so complicated that scientists aren't totally sure
101but they'll keep trying to figure it out,
102not just because they're curious about the answer
103but because they want to help.
104The ocean has become a really noisy place
105with super loud ship engines and underwater construction noises
106and even loud booms caused by companies trying to find oil on the ocean floor.
107All that noise has been making it too loud for whales to hear each other's songs.
108This has caused some whales to become confused or even lost
109but by learning all about why and where whales sing,
110we can help whales communicate by making sure ships don't go close to their feeding grounds
111and by only building or searching for oil where it won't interfere with their songs.
112That's all for this week's question.
113Thanks Lucy for asking it.