In breeding grounds, codas are almost entirely produced by adult females. Despite evidence that sperm whales share similar codas, it is still unknown whether sperm whales possess individually specific coda repertoires or whether individuals make codas at different rates. Slow clicks are heard only in the presence of males (it is not certain whether females occasionally make them). Males make a lot of slow clicks in breeding grounds (74% of the time), both near the surface and at depth, which suggests they are primarily mating signals. Outside breeding grounds, slow clicks are rarely heard, and usually near the surface.
Types of vocalization
Sperm whale
Sperm whale | Types of vocalization
Yes a "creak" and a "coda" are some of sound names used as per the situation they are in. Yes, capable of emitting sounds at a volume of 230 decibels, he sperm whale is the loudest animal in the world. Capable of emitting sounds at a volume of 230 decibels—more than an airplane jet engine at takeoff—the sperm whale is the loudest animal in the world. Yes, it is capable of emitting sounds at a volume of 230 decibels
what ocean zone does the sperm whale live in
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They are relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and are found in all the oceans.
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where does this whale species get its name from?
user
It is a truncation of "spermaceti whale".
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what does it look like?
user
It is distinguished by its large tooth.
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can it make sounds?
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Capable of emitting sounds at a volume of 230 decibels—more than an airplane jet engine at takeoff—the sperm whale is the loudest animal in the world.
Sperm whale | Vocalization complex
The vibrations pass through the tissue of the head to the melon, which shapes and directs the sound into a beam of sound useful in echolocation. Every toothed whale except the sperm whale has two sets of phonic lips and is thus capable of making two sounds independently. Once the air has passed the phonic lips it enters the vestibular sac. From there, the air may be recycled back into the lower part of the nasal complex, ready to be used for sound creation again, or passed out through the blowhole.
Whale vocalization | Odontocete whales
Whale vocalizations are the sounds made by whales to communicate. The word "song" is used in particular to describe the pattern of regular and predictable sounds made by some species of whales (notably the humpback) in a way that is reminiscent of human singing. Humans produce sound by expelling air through the larynx. The vocal cords within the larynx open and close as necessary to separate the stream of air into discrete pockets of air. These pockets are shaped by the throat, tongue, and lips into the desired sound. Cetacean sound production differs markedly from this mechanism. The precise mechanism differs in the two major suborders of cetaceans: the Odontoceti (toothed whales—including dolphins) and the Mysticeti (baleen whales—including the largest whales, such as the blue whale).
List of whale vocalizations | Introduction
In breeding grounds, codas are almost entirely produced by adult females. Despite evidence that sperm whales share similar codas, it is still unknown whether sperm whales possess individually specific coda repertoires or whether individuals make codas at different rates. Slow clicks are heard only in the presence of males (it is not certain whether females occasionally make them). Males make a lot of slow clicks in breeding grounds (74% of the time), both near the surface and at depth, which suggests they are primarily mating signals. Outside breeding grounds, slow clicks are rarely heard, and usually near the surface.
Sperm whale | Types of vocalization
Humans produce voiced sounds by passing air through the larynx. Within the larynx, when the vocal cords are brought close together, the passing air will force them to alternately close and open, separating the continuous airstream into discrete pulses of air that are heard as a vibration. This vibration is further modified by speech organs in the oral and nasal cavities, creating sounds which are used in human speech. Cetacean sound production differs markedly from this mechanism. The precise mechanism differs in the two major suborders of cetaceans: the "Odontoceti" (toothed whales—including dolphins) and the "Mysticeti" (baleen whales—including the largest whales, such as the blue whale).
Whale vocalization | Production of sound
The click sounds made by sperm whales and dolphins are not strictly song, but the clicking sequences have been suggested to be individualized rhythmic sequences that communicate the identity of a single whale to other whales in its group. This clicking sequences reportedly allow the groups to coordinate foraging activities.
Whale vocalization | Introduction
Frankel quotes one researcher who says listening to a school of odontocetes is like listening to a group of children at a school playground. The multiple sounds odontocetes make are produced by passing air through a structure in the head called the phonic lips. The structure is analogous to the human nasal cavity, but the phonic lips act similarly to human vocal cords, which in humans are located in the larynx. As the air passes through this narrow passage, the phonic lip membranes are sucked together, causing the surrounding tissue to vibrate. These vibrations can, as with the vibrations in the human larynx, be consciously controlled with great sensitivity.
Whale vocalization | Odontocete whales
Baleen whales (formally called mysticetes) do not have phonic lip structure. Instead, they have a larynx that appears to play a role in sound production, but it lacks vocal cords, and scientists remain uncertain as to the exact mechanism. The process, however, cannot be completely analogous to humans, because whales do not have to exhale in order to produce sound. It is likely that they recycle air around the body for this purpose. Cranial sinuses may also be used to create the sounds, but again, researchers are currently unsure how.
Whale vocalization | Mysticete whales
A creak is a rapid series of high-frequency clicks that sounds somewhat like a creaky door hinge. It is typically used when homing in on prey. A coda is a short pattern of 3 to 20 clicks that is used in social situations. They were once thought to be a way by which individuals identified themselves, but individuals have been observed producing multiple codas, and the same codas are used by multiple individuals. However, each click contains a physical signature which suggests that clicks can be used to identify individuals. Geographically separate pods exhibit distinct dialects. Large males are generally solitary and rarely produce codas.
Sperm whale | Types of vocalization
When echolocating, the sperm whale emits a directionally focused beam of broadband clicks. Clicks are generated by forcing air through a pair of phonic lips (also known as "monkey lips" or "museau de singe") at the front end of the nose, just below the blowhole. The sound then travels backwards along the length of the nose through the spermaceti organ. Most of the sound energy is then reflected off the frontal sac at the cranium and into the melon, whose lens-like structure focuses it. Some of the sound will reflect back into the spermaceti organ and back towards the front of the whale's nose, where it will be reflected through the spermaceti organ a third time.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
Like other whales, males make long, loud, low-frequency sounds. The vocalizations of blue and fin whales are the lowest-frequency sounds made by any animal. Most sounds are frequency-modulated (FM) down-swept infrasonic pulses from 16 to 40 hertz frequency (the range of sounds that most humans can hear falls between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz). Each sound lasts one to two seconds, and various sound combinations occur in patterned sequences lasting 7 to 15 minutes each. The whale then repeats the sequences in bouts lasting up to many days. The vocal sequences have source levels of up to 184–186 decibels relative to 1 micropascal at a reference distance of one metre and can be detected hundreds of miles from their source.
Fin whale | Vocalizations
Like other whales, the male fin whale has been observed to make long, loud, low-frequency sounds. Most sounds are frequency-modulated (FM) down-swept infrasonic pulses from 16 to 40 hertz frequency (the range of sounds that most humans can hear falls between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz). Each sound lasts between one and two seconds, and various combinations of sounds occur in patterned sequences lasting 7 to 15 minutes each. These sequences are then repeated in bouts lasting up to many days.
List of whale vocalizations | Fin whale ("Balaenoptera physalus")
A coda is a short pattern of 3 to 20 clicks that is used in social situations to identify one another (like a signature whistle), but it is still unknown whether sperm whales possess individually specific coda repertoires or whether individuals make codas at different rates. Slow clicks are heard only in the presence of males (it is not certain whether females occasionally make them). Males make a lot of slow clicks in breeding grounds (74% of the time), both near the surface and at depth, which suggests they are primarily mating signals. Outside breeding grounds, slow clicks are rarely heard, and usually near the surface.
Toothed whale | Vocalisations
Like all toothed whales, the pygmy sperm whale hunts prey by echolocation. Sound produced for echolocation by many odontocetes come in the form of high-frequency clicks. The frequencies it uses are mostly ultrasonic, peaking around 125 kHz. The clicks from their echolocation has been recorded to last an average of 600 microseconds. When closing in on prey, the click repetition rate starts at 20 Hz and then begins to rise when nearing the target. The pulse sounds that pygmy sperm whales make for echolocation are generated primarily from the "museau de singe" or monkey's muzzle, which is an anatomical structure located within the whale's skull that produces sound when air passes through its lips.
Pygmy sperm whale | Echolocation
Whale vocalization is likely to serve several purposes. Some species, such as the humpback whale, communicate using melodic sounds, known as whale song. These sounds may be extremely loud, depending on the species. Humpback whales only have been heard making clicks, while toothed whales use sonar that may generate up to 20,000 watts of sound (+73 dBm or +43 dBw) and be heard for many miles. Captive whales have occasionally been known to mimic human speech. Scientists have suggested this indicates a strong desire on behalf of the whales to communicate with humans, as whales have a very different vocal mechanism, so imitating human speech likely takes considerable effort.
Whale | Communication
All of the baleen whale sound files on this page (with the exception of the humpback vocalizations) are reproduced at 10x speed to bring the sound into the human auditory band.
List of whale vocalizations | Blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus")
Sound vibrations are conveyed to an organ in the head called the melon, which can be changed in shape to control and direct vocalizations. Unlike in humans and other mammals, toothed whales are able to recycle air used in vocal production, allowing whales to sing without releasing air. Some cetaceans, such as humpback whales, sing continuously for hours.
Animal song | Mammals
The sei whale makes long, loud, low-frequency sounds. Relatively little is known about specific calls, but in 2003, observers noted sei whale calls in addition to sounds that could be described as "growls" or "whooshes" off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Many calls consisted of multiple parts at different frequencies. This combination distinguishes their calls from those of other whales. Most calls lasted about a half second, and occurred in the 240–625 hertz range, well within the range of human hearing. The maximum volume of the vocal sequences is reported as 156 decibels relative to 1 micropascal (μPa) at a reference distance of one metre.
Sei whale | Vocalizations
Like other toothed whales, the pygmy sperm whale has a "melon", a body of fat and wax in the head that it uses to focus and modulate the sounds it makes. The inner core of the melon has a higher wax content than the outer cortex. The inner core transmits sound more slowly than the outer layer, allowing it to refract sound into a highly directional beam. Behind the melon, separated by a thin membrane, is the spermaceti organ. Both the melon and the spermaceti organ are encased in a thick fibrous coat, resembling a bursa. The whale produces sound by moving air through the right nasal cavity, which includes a valvular structure, or "museau de singe", with a thickened vocal reed, functioning like the vocal cords of humans.
Pygmy sperm whale | Melon
Bottlenose dolphins have a strong memory when it comes to these signature whistles, as they are able to relate to a signature whistle of an individual they have not encountered for over twenty years. Research done on signature whistle usage by other dolphin species is relatively limited. The research on other species done so far has yielded varied outcomes and inconclusive results. Sperm whales can produce three specific vocalisations: creaks, codas, and slow clicks. A creak is a rapid series of high-frequency clicks that sounds somewhat like a creaky door hinge. It is typically used when homing in on prey.
Toothed whale | Vocalisations
Variation in fat density within the melon ultimately contributes to the production of highly directional, ultrasonic sound beams in front of the melon. The combined melon and spermaceti organ system cooperate to focus echolocative sounds. Like in most odontocetes, the known echoreception apparatus used by the pygmy sperm whale is linked to the fat-filled lower mandibles within the skull. However, compositional topography of the pygmy sperm whale's skull indicates abnormally large fatty jowls surrounding the mandibles, suggesting a more intricate echoreception apparatus. Additionally, an unusual cushion structure, of porous and spongy texture, found behind the "museau de singe" has been hypothesized of being a possible "pressure receptor".
Pygmy sperm whale | Echolocation
These evolutionary modifications make the spine more flexible but weaker than the spines of terrestrial vertebrates. Like that of other toothed whales, the skull of the sperm whale is asymmetrical so as to aid echolocation. Sound waves that strike the whale from different directions will not be channeled in the same way. Within the basin of the cranium, the openings of the bony narial tubes (from which the nasal passages spring) are skewed towards the left side of the skull.
Sperm whale | Skeleton
Being a toothed whale, the false killer whale can echolocate using its melon organ in the forehead to create sound, which it uses to navigate and find prey. The melon is larger in males than in females.
False killer whale | Description
This back and forth reflection which happens on the scale of a few milliseconds creates a multi-pulse click structure. This multi-pulse click structure allows researchers to measure the whale's spermaceti organ using only the sound of its clicks. Because the interval between pulses of a sperm whale's click is related to the length of the sound producing organ, an individual whale's click is unique to that individual. However, if the whale matures and the size of the spermaceti organ increases, the tone of the whale's click will also change. The lower jaw is the primary reception path for the echoes.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
Humpback whales have also been found to make a range of other social sounds to communicate such as "grunts", "groans", "thwops", "snorts" and "barks". Most baleen whales make sounds at about 15–20 hertz. However, a team of marine biologists, led by Mary Ann Daher of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, reported in "New Scientist" in December 2004 that they had been tracking a whale in the North Pacific for 12 years that was "singing" at 52 Hz. The scientists are unable to explain this dramatic difference from the norm; however, they believe the whale is baleen and unlikely to be a new species, suggesting that currently known species may have a wider vocal range than previously thought.
Whale vocalization | Other whale sounds
While the complex sounds of the humpback whale (and some blue whales) are believed to be primarily used in sexual selection, the simpler sounds of other whales have a year-round use. While toothed whales are capable of using echolocation to detect the size and nature of objects, this capability has never been demonstrated in baleen whales. Further, unlike some fish such as sharks, a whale's sense of smell is not highly developed. Thus, given the poor visibility of aquatic environments and that sound travels so well in water, sounds audible to humans may play a role in navigation. For instance, the depth of water or the existence of a large obstruction ahead may be detected by loud noises made by baleen whales.
Whale vocalization | Purpose of whale-created sounds
As sea mammals are so dependent on hearing to communicate and feed, environmentalists and cetologists are concerned that they are being harmed by the increased ambient noise in the world's oceans caused by ships, sonar and marine seismic surveys. The word "song" is used to describe the pattern of regular and predictable sounds made by some species of whales, notably the humpback whale. This is included with or in comparison with music, and male humpback whales have been described as "inveterate composers" of songs that are "'strikingly similar' to human musical traditions". It has been suggested that humpback songs communicate male fitness to female whales.
Whale vocalization | Introduction
The spermaceti at the core of the organ has a higher wax content than the outer areas. The speed of sound in spermaceti is 2,684 m/s (at 40 kHz, 36 °C), making it nearly twice as fast as in the oil in a dolphin's melon. Below the spermaceti organ lies the "junk" which consists of compartments of spermaceti separated by cartilage. It is analogous to the melon found in other toothed whales. The structure of the junk redistributes physical stress across the skull and may have evolved to protect the head during ramming.
Sperm whale | Spermaceti organ and melon
Most mammalian species produce sound by passing air from the lungs across the larynx, vibrating the vocal folds. Sound then enters the supralaryngeal vocal tract, which can be adjusted to produce various changes in sound output, providing refinement of vocalizations. Although morphological differences between species affect sound production, neural control is thought to be more essential factor in producing the variations within human speech and song compared to those of other mammals. Cetacean vocalizations are an exception to this general mechanism. Toothed whales (Odontocetes) pass air through a system of air sacs and muscular phonic lips, which vibrate to produce audible vocalizations, thus serving the function of vocal folds in other mammals.
Animal song | Mammals
Whale sounds are used by whales for different kinds of communication. The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are much more dependent on sound for communication and sensation than are land mammals, because other senses are of limited effectiveness in water. Sight is less effective for marine mammals because of the particulate way in which the ocean scatters light. Smell is also limited, as molecules diffuse more slowly in water than in air, which makes smelling less effective. However, the speed of sound is roughly four times greater in water than in the atmosphere at sea level.
Whale vocalization | Introduction
The ultrasonic clicks of pygmy sperm whales range from 60 to 200 kHz, peaking at 125 kHz, and the animals also make much lower-frequency "cries" at 1 to 2 kHz.
Pygmy sperm whale | Behaviour
Atop the whale's skull is positioned a large complex of organs filled with a liquid mixture of fats and waxes called spermaceti. The purpose of this complex is to generate powerful and focused clicking sounds, which the sperm whale uses for echolocation and communication. The spermaceti organ is like a large barrel of spermaceti. Its surrounding wall, known as the "case", is extremely tough and fibrous. The case can hold within it up to 1,900 litres of spermaceti. It is proportionately larger in males. This oil is a mixture of triglycerides and wax esters. The proportion of wax esters in the spermaceti organ increases with the age of the whale: 38–51% in calves, 58–87% in adult females, and 71–94% in adult males.
Sperm whale | Spermaceti organ and melon
The question of whether whales sometimes sing purely for aesthetic enjoyment, personal satisfaction, or 'for art's sake', is considered by some to be "an untestable question".
Whale vocalization | Purpose of whale-created sounds
Additionally, echolocation allows the odontocete to easily discern the difference between objects that are different in material composition, even if visually identical, by their different densities. Individuals also appear to be able to isolate their own echoes during pod feeding activity without interference from other pod members' echolocations. Whistles are used for communication, and four- to six-month-old calves develop unique sounds that they use most frequently throughout their lives. Such "signature whistles" are distinctive to the individual and may serve as a form of identification among other odontocetes. Though a large pod of dolphins will produce a wide range of different noises, very little is known about the meaning of the sound.
Whale vocalization | Odontocete whales
Dolphins are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole. Roughly three categories of sounds can be identified: frequency modulated whistles, burst-pulsed sounds and clicks. Dolphins communicate with whistle-like sounds produced by vibrating connective tissue, similar to the way human vocal cords function, and through burst-pulsed sounds, though the nature and extent of that ability is not known. The clicks are directional and are for echolocation, often occurring in a short series called a click train. The click rate increases when approaching an object of interest. Dolphin echolocation clicks are amongst the loudest sounds made by marine animals.
Toothed whale | Vocalisations
The correlation between song types and genetic subdivisions is unknown, but song types are currently used as the primary method of separating blue whale populations because they are stable in shape over multiple decades for each region. The characteristics of specific call types vary with respect to fundamental frequency, bandwidth, and duration, among others. The production of vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. The purpose of vocalization is unknown, but songs produced only by males appear to have a sexually related purpose, while “D-calls” and other non-repeating calls are produced during feeding by both sexes.
Blue whale | Vocalizations
Toothed whales are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole. Roughly three categories of sounds can be identified: frequency-modulated whistles, burst-pulsed sounds, and clicks. Dolphins communicate with whistle-like sounds produced by vibrating connective tissue, similar to the way human vocal cords function, and through burst-pulsed sounds, though the nature and extent of that ability is not known. The clicks are directional and are used for echolocation, often occurring in a short series called a click train. The click rate increases when approaching an object of interest. Toothed whale biosonar clicks are amongst the loudest sounds made by marine animals.
Toothed whale | Sonar
Analyzing the teeth is the preferred method for determining a whale's age. Like the age-rings in a tree, the teeth build distinct layers of cementum and dentine as they grow.
Sperm whale | Jaws and teeth
Both male and female humpback whales vocalize, but only males produce the long, loud, complex "song" for which the species is famous. Each song consists of several sounds in a low register, varying in amplitude and frequency and typically lasting from 10 to 20 minutes. Individuals may sing continuously for more than 24 hours. Cetaceans have no vocal cords, instead, they produce sound via a larynx-like structure found in the throat, the mechanism of which has not been clearly identified. Whales do not have to exhale to produce sound. Whales within a large area sing a single song. All North Atlantic humpbacks sing the same song, while those of the North Pacific sing a different song.
Humpback whale | Song
Large vocal pads can also lower the pitch, as in the low-pitched roars of big cats. The production of infrasound is possible in some mammals such as the African elephant ("Loxodonta" spp.) and baleen whales. Small mammals with small larynxes have the ability to produce ultrasound, which can be detected by modifications to the middle ear and cochlea. Ultrasound is inaudible to birds and reptiles, which might have been important during the Mesozoic, when birds and reptiles were the dominant predators. This private channel is used by some rodents in, for example, mother-to-pup communication, and by bats when echolocating. Toothed whales also use echolocation, but, as opposed to the vocal membrane that extends upward from the vocal folds, they have a melon to manipulate sounds.
Mammal | Sound production
All baleen whales use sound for communication and are known to "sing", especially during the breeding season. Blue whales produce the loudest sustained sounds of any animals: their low-frequency (about 20 Hz) moans can last for half a minute, reach almost 190 decibels, and be heard hundreds of kilometers away. Adult male humpbacks produce the longest and most complex songs; sequences of moans, groans, roars, sighs, and chirps sometimes lasting more than ten minutes are repeated for hours. Typically, all humpback males in a population sing the same song over a breeding season, but the songs change slightly between seasons, and males in one population have been observed adapting the song from males of a neighboring population over a few breeding seasons.
Baleen whale | Whale song
When fin whale sounds were first recorded by US biologists, they did not realize that these unusually loud, long, pure and regular sounds were being made by whales. They first investigated the possibilities that the sounds were due to equipment malfunction, geophysical phenomena, or even part of a Soviet Union scheme for detecting enemy submarines. Eventually, biologists demonstrated that the sounds were the vocalizations of fin whales. Direct association of these vocalizations with the reproductive season for the species and that only males make the sounds point to these vocalizations as possible reproductive displays. Over the past 100 years, the dramatic increase in ocean noise from shipping and naval activity may have slowed the recovery of the fin whale population, by impeding communications between males and receptive females.
Fin whale | Vocalizations
Odontocetes produce rapid bursts of high-frequency clicks that are thought to be primarily for echolocation. Specialized organs in an odontocete produce collections of clicks and buzzes at frequencies from 0.2 to 150 kHz to obtain sonic information about its environment. Lower frequencies are used for distance echolocation, due to the fact that shorter wavelengths do not travel as far as longer wavelengths underwater. Higher frequencies are more effective at shorter distances, and can reveal more detailed information about a target. Echoes from clicks convey, not only the distance to the target, but also the size, shape, speed, and vector of its movement.
Whale vocalization | Odontocete whales
Both male and female of the species produce vocalizations. The female may produce a brief grunting sound, usually in agonistic encounters. The Type II male performs similar behaviors. The Type I male is much more vocal, both in conflict situations and in courtship. He utters long strings of grunts and growls while fighting, but his courtship call is more of a prolonged hum. He may produce this sound for over an hour at a time, reaching frequencies near 100 Hz. When a male makes the sound, gravid females respond by moving toward him. The fish produces the sound using the muscles of its modified swim bladder.
Porichthys notatus | Vocalization
Males in some baleen species communicate via whale song, sequences of high pitched sounds. These "songs" can be heard for hundreds of kilometers. Each population generally shares a distinct song, which evolves over time. Sometimes, an individual can be identified by its distinctive vocals, such as the 52-hertz whale that sings at a higher frequency than other whales. Some individuals are capable of generating over 600 distinct sounds. In baleen species such as humpbacks, blues and fins, male-specific song is believed to be used to attract and display fitness to females.
Cetacea | Whale song
Sexual dimorphism is also displayed through whale song, notably in humpback whales where the males of the species sing elaborate songs. Male right whales have bigger callosities than female right whales. The males are generally more scarred than females which is thought to be because of aggression during mating season.
Baleen whale | External anatomy
The sound from the "museau de singe" is transferred to the attached cone of the spermaceti organ. Unique from other odontocetes, the spermaceti organ contacts the posterior of the whale's melon. Fat from the core of the spermaceti organ helps direct sonic energy from the "museau de singe" to the melon. The melon acts as a sonic magnifier and gives directionality to sound pulses, making echolocation more efficient. Fat on the interior of the melon has a lower molecular weight lipid than the surrounding outer melon. Since the sound waves move from a lower velocity material to a higher one during sound production, the sound undergoes inward refraction and becomes increasingly focused.
Pygmy sperm whale | Echolocation
The positioning of this cushion structure in close proximity to the largest cavities closest to the "museau de singe" may suggest that it is a sound absorber used for echoreception.
Pygmy sperm whale | Echolocation
Odontocetes, such as the sperm whale, possess teeth with cementum cells overlying dentine cells. Unlike human teeth, which are composed mostly of enamel on the portion of the tooth outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales, where the cementum is worn away on the tip of the tooth, does enamel show. Mysticetes have large whalebone, as opposed to teeth, made of keratin. Mysticetes have two blowholes, whereas Odontocetes contain only one. Breathing involves expelling stale air from the blowhole, forming an upward, steamy spout, followed by inhaling fresh air into the lungs; a humpback whale's lungs can hold about 5,000 litres of air.
Whale | Anatomy
There is disagreement in the scientific community regarding the uniqueness of the whale's vocalization and whether it is a member of a hybrid whale such as the well documented Blue and Fin Whale hybrids. In 2009, researchers found that blue whale song has been deepening in its tonal frequency since the 1960s. While noise pollution has increased ambient ocean noise by over 12 decibels since the mid-20th century, researcher Mark McDonald indicated that higher pitches would be expected if the whales were straining to be heard.
Whale vocalization | Other whale sounds
The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale, with adult males measuring up to long and weighing up to . By contrast, the second largest toothed whale (Baird's beaked whale) measures and weighs up to . The sperm whale is among the most sexually dimorphic of all cetaceans. At birth both sexes are about the same size, but mature males are typically 30% to 50% longer and three times as massive as females. Newborn sperm whales are usually between long in length. Female sperm whales are physically mature at about in length and generally don't grow much larger than about .
Sperm whale | External appearance
The sperm whale or cachalot ("Physeter macrocephalus") is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus "Physeter" and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus "Kogia". The sperm whale is a pelagic mammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding. Females and young males live together in groups, while mature males (bulls) live solitary lives outside of the mating season. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young.
Sperm whale | Introduction
Some of the species of toothed whales like dolphins and porpoises such as beluga whales and killer whales can imitate the patterns of human speech.
Talking animal | Cetaceans
Recent studies have found that a large portion of their vocal repertoire is made up of calls produced in repeated sequences. These repetitions are more commonly heard when whales are socializing than any other behavioral state (e.g. foraging, traveling, and resting).
Long-finned pilot whale | Communication
According to Ridgway, "They were definitely unlike usual sounds for a [beluga], and similar to human voices in rhythm and acoustic spectrum." Unlike humans who use their larynx to produce sounds, whales use their nasal tract. Data gathered from the pressure sensors indicated that NOC was using his nasal tract as well, although he altered his normal vocal mechanics. In particular, he over-inflated his vestibular sac, which is normally used to prevent water from entering the lungs.
NOC (whale) | Human-like sounds
Estimates made by Cummings and Thompson (1971) and Richardson et al. (1995) suggest that source level of sounds made by blue whales are between 155 and 188 decibels when measured at a reference pressure of one micropascal at one metre. All blue whale groups make calls at a fundamental frequency of between 10 and 40 Hz, and the lowest frequency sound a human can typically perceive is 20 Hz. Blue whale calls last between ten and thirty seconds. Additionally blue whales off the coast of Sri Lanka have been recorded repeatedly making "songs" of four notes duration lasting about two minutes each, reminiscent of the well-known humpback whale songs.
List of whale vocalizations | Blue whale ("Balaenoptera musculus")
Researchers use hydrophones (often adapted from their original military use in tracking submarines) to ascertain the exact location of the origin of whale noises. Their methods also allow them to detect how far through an ocean a sound travels. Research by Dr. Christopher Clark of Cornell University conducted using military data showed that whale noises travel for thousands of kilometres. As well as providing information about song production, the data allows researchers to follow the migratory path of whales throughout the "singing" (mating) season. An important finding is that whales, in a process called the Lombard effect, adjust their song to compensate for background noise pollution.
Whale vocalization | Human interaction
Like all cetaceans, killer whales depend heavily on underwater sound for orientation, feeding, and communication. They produce three categories of sounds: clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls. Clicks are believed to be used primarily for navigation and discriminating prey and other objects in the surrounding environment, but are also commonly heard during social interactions. Northeast Pacific resident groups tend to be much more vocal than transient groups in the same waters. Residents feed primarily on Chinook and chum, which are insensitive to killer whale calls (inferred from the audiogram of Atlantic salmon). In contrast, the marine mammal prey of transients hear whale calls well.
Killer whale | Vocalizations
As with other dolphins, orcas are very vocal animals. They produce a variety of clicks and whistles that are used for communication and echolocation. The vocalization types vary with activity. While resting they are much quieter, merely emitting an occasional call that is distinct from those heard when engaging in more active behaviour. Fish-eating resident groups of orcas in the Northeast Pacific tend to be much more vocal than transient groups living in the same waters. Scientists surmise that the main reason for this lies in the different hearing abilities of their prey. Resident killer whales feed on fish, particularly Pacific salmon, a prey with poor underwater hearing that cannot detect killer whale calls at any significant distance.
List of whale vocalizations | Orca (killer whale) ("Orcinus orca")
Based on similarities to the acoustic parameters of other odontocetes, it is presumed that they use a similar mechanism for producing echolocation clicks. The anatomy for auditory reception is similar to other odontocetes, with a hollow mandible and a mandibular fat body composed of a low density outer layer and a denser inner core. The inner core comes into direct contact with the tympanoperiotic complex (functionally similar to the auditory bulla in other species - see Cetacea). Hearing tests performed on two live individuals brought in for rehabilitation exhibited frequency response range and temporal resolution similar to that found in other echolocating dolphins.
Pygmy killer whale | Echolocation and hearing
A continuous fat-filled canal transmits received sounds to the inner ear. The source of the air forced through the phonic lips is the right nasal passage. While the left nasal passage opens to the blow hole, the right nasal passage has evolved to supply air to the phonic lips. It is thought that the nostrils of the land-based ancestor of the sperm whale migrated through evolution to their current functions, the left nostril becoming the blowhole and the right nostril becoming the phonic lips. Air that passes through the phonic lips passes into the distal sac, then back down through the left nasal passage.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
The sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") is the largest species of toothed whale, with adult bulls (males) growing to be about long, and weighing about . The two kogiid species are much smaller, around in length, and weighing . The bodies of physeteroids are robustly proportioned, with paddle-shaped flippers. The lower jaw is always relatively small and thin relative to the upper jaw. The nasal bones of these whales are distinctly asymmetrical, with the blowhole being located on the left side of the head; in the sperm whale, this is near the top of the head, while on the kogiids it is further forward.
Physeteroidea | Characteristics
Bowhead whales are highly vocal and use low frequency (<1000 Hz) sounds to communicate while travelling, feeding, and socialising. Intense calls for communication and navigation are produced especially during migration season. During breeding season, bowheads make long, complex, variable songs for mating calls. From 2010 through to 2014, near Greenland, 184 distinct songs were recorded from a population of around 300 animals.
Bowhead whale | Vocalization
Two groups of whales, the humpback whale and the subspecies of blue whale found in the Indian Ocean, are known to produce a series of repetitious sounds at varying frequencies known as whale song. Marine biologist Philip Clapham describes the song as "probably the most complex in the animal kingdom." Male humpback whales perform these vocalizations often during the mating season, and so it is believed the purpose of songs is to aid mate selection. Interest in whale song was aroused by researchers Roger Payne and Scott McVay after the songs were brought to their attention by a Bermudian named Frank Watlington who was working for the US government at the SOFAR station listening for Russian submarines with underwater hydrophones off the coast of the island.
Whale vocalization | Song of the humpback whale
Vocalizations made by right whales are not elaborate compared to those made by other whale species. The whales make groans, pops and belches typically at frequencies around 500 Hz. The purpose of the sounds is not known but may be a form of communication between whales within the same group. Northern right whales responded to sounds similar to police sirens—sounds of much higher frequency than their own. On hearing the sounds, they moved rapidly to the surface. The research was of particular interest because northern rights ignore most sounds, including those of approaching boats. Researchers speculate this information may be useful in attempts to reduce the number of ship-whale collisions or to encourage the whales to surface for ease of harvesting.
Right whale | Vocalization and hearing
The olfactory system is reduced, suggesting that the sperm whale has a poor sense of taste and smell. By contrast, the auditory system is enlarged. The pyramidal tract is poorly developed, reflecting the reduction of its limbs.
Sperm whale | Brain
Females give birth every four to 20 years, and care for the calves for more than a decade. A mature sperm whale has few natural predators, although calves and weakened adults are sometimes killed by pods of killer whales (orcas). Mature males average in length but some may reach , with the head representing up to one-third of the animal's length. Plunging to , it is the third deepest diving mammal, exceeded only by the southern elephant seal and Cuvier's beaked whale. The sperm whale uses echolocation and vocalization as loud as 230 decibels (re 1 µPa m) underwater. It has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human's.
Sperm whale | Introduction
The sperm whale's lower jaw is very narrow and underslung. The sperm whale has 18 to 26 teeth on each side of its lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw. The teeth are cone-shaped and weigh up to each. The teeth are functional, but do not appear to be necessary for capturing or eating squid, as well-fed animals have been found without teeth or even with deformed jaws. One hypothesis is that the teeth are used in aggression between males. Mature males often show scars which seem to be caused by the teeth. Rudimentary teeth are also present in the upper jaw, but these rarely emerge into the mouth.
Sperm whale | Jaws and teeth
The frequency of baleen whale sounds ranges from 10 Hz to 31 kHz. A list of typical levels is shown in the table below.
Whale vocalization | Sound levels
The humpback whale is well known for its long and complex song. Humpbacks repeat patterns of low notes that vary in amplitude and frequency in consistent patterns over a period of hours or even days. Only male humpbacks sing, so it was at first assumed that the songs were solely for courting. While the primary purpose of whale song may be to attract females, it is almost certain that whale song serves myriad purposes.
List of whale vocalizations | Humpback whale ("Megaptera novaeangliae")
The pygmy sperm has between 20 and 32 teeth, all of which are set into the rostral part of the lower jaw. Unusually, adults lack enamel due to a mutation in the enamelysin gene, although enamel is present in very young individuals.
Pygmy sperm whale | Teeth
Blue whale vocalizations are among the loudest and lowest frequency sounds made by any animal. The source level of blue whales off Chile in the 14 to 222 Hz band were estimated to be 188 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, 189 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m for Antarctic blue whales, and 174 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m for pygmy blue whales. The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz. Blue whale song types were initially divided into nine song types, although ongoing research suggests at least 13 song types.
Blue whale | Vocalizations
The spermaceti organ is an organ that commonly appears in the heads of toothed whales of the family Physeteroidea, in particular the sperm whale. This organ contains a waxy liquid called spermaceti and is involved in the generation of sound. In the modern sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus"), the spermaceti organ is far larger in proportion to the animal’s body than what would be explained by simple allometry, and the evolution of the organ has caused changes in basal skull morphology, which may implicate tradeoffs were made that compromised the functionality of other nearby features. The high investment in this organ suggests that the organ must have adaptively advantageous functionality.
Spermaceti organ | Introduction
In the past decade, many effective automated methods, such as signal processing, data mining, and machine learning techniques have been developed to detect and classify whale vocalizations.
Whale vocalization | Human interaction
Moreover, there is evidence that blue whales stop producing foraging D calls once a mid-frequency sonar is activated, even though the sonar frequency range (1–8 kHz) far exceeds their sound production range (25–100 Hz). Prior to the introduction of human noise production, Clark says the noises may have travelled right from one side of an ocean to the other, agreeing with a thirty-year-old concept blaming large-scale shipping. His research indicates that ambient noise from boats is doubling with each decade. This has the effect of reducing the range at which whale noises can be heard. Environmentalists fear that such boat activity is putting undue stress on the animals as well as making it difficult to find a mate.
Whale vocalization | Human interaction
This recycling of air allows the whale to continuously generate clicks for as long as it is submerged.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
Transient orcas on the other hand feed mainly on marine mammals (primarily seals, sea lions, porpoises and dolphins) and occasionally on seabirds. Because all marine mammals have excellent underwater hearing, transients probably remain silent for much of the time to avoid detection by their acoustically-sensitive prey. For the same reason, mammal-hunting orcas tend to restrict their echolocation, occasionally using just a single click (called a cryptic click) rather than the long train of clicks observed in other populations.
List of whale vocalizations | Orca (killer whale) ("Orcinus orca")
All species have a large number of similar, and relatively simple, teeth. In the kogiids, and sometimes also in the sperm whale, the teeth in the upper jaw do not erupt, and are sometimes altogether absent. The eyes of physeteroids are unable to swivel in their sockets, and possess only a vestigial anterior chamber. Echolocation likely is a far more important sense to these animals than vision.
Physeteroidea | Characteristics
The most notable adaptation is the development of echolocation in whales and dolphins. Toothed whales emit a focused beam of high-frequency clicks in the direction that their head is pointing. Sounds are generated by passing air from the bony nares through the phonic lips. These sounds are reflected by the dense concave bone of the cranium and an air sac at its base. The focused beam is modulated by a large fatty organ known as the 'melon'. This acts like an acoustic lens because it is composed of lipids of differing densities.
Marine mammal | Adaptations
Characteristic of sperm whales, the left nostril is markedly larger than the right, and it has a spermaceti organ on its skull. The brain weighs around . The eyes are adapted for low-light environments. The dwarf sperm whale has 14 to 24 teeth, rarely 26, in the lower jaw that are sharp, slightly curved backwards, and–like other sperm whales–lack enamel. The teeth rarely exceed in length, smaller than those of the pygmy sperm whale. At most, 6 teeth are in the upper jaws, though in modern sperm whales, upper teeth are defunct. Unique to "Kogia", there is a sac which hangs off from the small intestines near the anus that is filled with a dense, red-brown fluid that looks similar to chocolate syrup.
Dwarf sperm whale | Description
pusilla" has a basin formed by the right premaxilla, which, in modern "Kogia", houses the spermaceti organ. The organ is unique to sperm whales and aids in echolocation by focusing sound. Due to the less-pronounced cheekbones, the anterior cranial fossa–depressions on the skull–are smaller than in modern "Kogia". The lacrimal bone is hooked-shape like in Physeteridae in contrast to the triangular lacrimal bone of Kogiidae. Like other kogiids, it does not have nasal bones. Thinking it was a beaked whale and using the holotype of "Placoziphius" for scale, Capellini estimated the length at .
Kogia pusilla | Description
The sexes are similar. Their vocalizations are usually yelps of one or two syllables.
Recurvirostridae | Description
Antarctic minke whales produce a variety of sounds, including whistles, calls reminiscent of a clanging bell, clicks, screeches, grunts, downsweeps, and a sound called bioduck. Downsweeps are intense, low frequency calls that sweep down from about 130 to 115 Hz to about 60 Hz, with a peak frequency of 83 Hz. Each sweep has a duration of 0.2 seconds and an average source level of about 147 decibels at a reference pressure of one micropascal at one metre. The bio-duck call, first described in the 1960s and named by sonar operators on Oberon-class submarines for its purported resemblance to the quack of a duck, consist of a series of anywhere from three to a dozen pulse trains that range from 50 to 200 Hz and have a peak frequency of about 154 Hz – they sometimes also possess harmonics of up to 1 kHz.
Antarctic minke whale | Vocalizations
The difference in frequencies is thought to be a response to the difference in environmental noise in the two areas. These animals communicate using sounds of high frequency; their calls can sound like bird songs, so belugas were nicknamed "canaries of the sea". Like the other toothed whales, belugas do not possess vocal cords and the sounds are probably produced by the movement of air between the nasal sacks, which are located near to the blowhole.
Beluga whale | Communication and echolocation
The males of most species are covered in scars from the teeth of other males. The lower jaw often forms a huge arch in some species, sometimes extending above the rostrum in a shape comparable to a playground slide. Every species has large (sometimes tusk-like) teeth of variable size, shape, and position.
Mesoplodont whale | Physical description
Male humpback whales ("Megaptera novaeangliae") sing as a form of sexual display while migrating to and from their breeding grounds. All males in a population produce the same song which can change over time, indicating vocal learning and cultural transmission, a characteristic shared by some bird populations. Songs become increasingly dissimilar over distance and populations in different oceans have dissimilar songs. Whale songs recorded along the east coast of Australia in 1996 showed introduction of a novel song by two foreign whales who had migrated from the west Australian coast to the east Australian coast. In just two years, all members of the population had switched songs.
Vocal learning | Whales
Not all species are believed to use their teeth for feeding. For instance, the sperm whale likely uses its teeth for aggression and showmanship. Breathing involves expelling stale air from their one blowhole, forming an upward, steamy spout, followed by inhaling fresh air into the lungs. Spout shapes differ among species, which facilitates identification. The spout only forms when warm air from the lungs meets cold air, so it does not form in warmer climates, as with river dolphins.
Toothed whale | Anatomy
Thus, the hypothesis that the spermaceti organ is an adaptation aiding in echolocation is generally the best accepted one. Under this hypothesis, the spermaceti organ assists in echolocation for the purpose of foraging activity during deep dives, allowing the whale to manipulate the directionality and power of output sound waves for improved sensory perception of its surroundings and increased ability to actively capture prey.
Spermaceti organ | Introduction
The sperm whale, or common cachalot, is a large toothed whale belonging to the infraorder Cetacea. Cachalot may also refer to:
Cachalot (disambiguation) | Introduction
The beluga has a very specialised sense of hearing and its auditory cortex is highly developed. It can hear sounds within the range of 1.2 to 120 kHz, with the greatest sensitivity between 10 and 75 kHz, where the average hearing range for humans is 0.02 to 20 kHz. The majority of sounds are most probably received by the lower jaw and transmitted towards the middle ear. In the toothed whales, the lower jawbone is broad with a cavity at its base, which projects towards the place where it joins the cranium. A fatty deposit inside this small cavity connects to the middle ear.
Beluga whale | Senses
North Atlantic right whales recordings are available online. Many effective automated methods, such as signal processing, data mining, and machine learning techniques are used to detect and classify their calls.
North Atlantic right whale | Vocalization
They use a suction technique, aided by a pair of grooves on the underside of their head, not unlike the throat pleats on the rorquals, to feed.
Whale | Odontocetes
While vertical transmission (parent-offspring) is a common element of song learning, horizontal transmission among animals of the same generation can also occur. Male humpback whales produce various songs over their lifetime, which are learned from other males in the population. Males in a population conform to produce the same mating song, consisting of a highly stereotyped vocal display involved in mate attraction. The cultural transmission of these songs has been found to occur across great geographic distances over years, with one study noting song transmission across the western and central South Pacific Ocean populations over an 11-year period.
Animal song | Cultural transmission of whale song
Like in other sperm whales, the blowhole was slanted towards the left side of the animal, and it may have lacked a right nasal passage. The falciform process on the squamosal bone was large and ventrally facing; as opposed to the ones in the Kogiidae ("Kogia" and "Praekogia") which are either reduced or absent. These may have been reduced in kogiids due to adaptations to deep-sea diving. Like in modern sperm whales, "Zygophyseter" had a very large basin above the braincase, known as the supracranial basin, which probably housed the spermaceti organ and the melon. These are used in the generation and focusing of sound for biosonar in the modern sperm whale, indicating "Zygophyseter" had some mechanisms for biosonar; that is to say this animal could have used echolocation.
Zygophyseter | Skull
Vocalizations have also been proven to be culturally acquired in killer and sperm whale populations, as evidenced by the distinct vocalization patterns maintained by members of these different species even in cases where more than one species may occupy one home range. Further study is being done in the matrilineal whales to uncover the cultural transmission mechanisms associated with other advanced techniques, such as migration strategies, new foraging techniques, and babysitting.
Animal culture | Matrilineal whales
The right nasal passage was small and was asymmetrical with the left nasal passage, like in the modern sperm whale. Characteristic of sperm whales, it had a deep basin on the top of its skull, known as the supracranial basin. Like in the modern sperm whale, this basin probably held the spermaceti organ, and so the whale had biosonar capabilities. The nuchal crest which is the part of the whale skull which projects upwards on the back end of the skull, behind the supracranial basin, was low and broad. Similar to modern-day toothed whales, but unlike in the modern sperm whale, the shoulder blades were thicker than they were taller.
Brygmophyseter | Description
Males have a subgular vocal sac that is usually unpigmented.
Phrynobatrachus parvulus | Description
Type I territorial males use vocalizations via paired muscles in the swimming bladder to attract females, while type II males invest in larger reproductive organs. Type II males then “sneak” into nests because they look much like females and fertilize laid eggs. This behavior is referred to as cuckoldry or satellite-spawning. Type II males and females are incapable of long duration calls. 11-Ketotestosterone is the major steroid present in Type I males’ vocalization systems, while Type 2 males’ and females’ vocalizations are primarily mediated by testosterone. The specific mechanisms by which these steroids act are still unknown.
Reproduction and vocalization in midshipman fish | Steroid mediation
Macroraptorials probably competed with the extinct giant shark megalodon for the same food sources. In sperm whales, the supracranial basin holds the spermaceti organ, a series of oil and wax reservoirs which aids in echolocation. Speculatively, the organ may also serve a secondary function, such as vocalizing, acoustic stunning of prey, head-butting between males, ramming into prey, or buoyancy control by increasing or decreasing the temperature of the wax to change the density and weight.
Macroraptorial sperm whale | Paleobiology
The braincase is concentrated through the nasal passage to the front and is correspondingly higher, with individual cranial bones that overlap. In toothed whales, connective tissue exists in the melon as a head buckle. This is filled with air sacs and fat that aid in buoyancy and biosonar. The sperm whale has a particularly pronounced melon; this is called the spermaceti organ and contains the eponymous spermaceti, hence the name "sperm whale". Even the long tusk of the narwhal is a vice-formed tooth. In many toothed whales, the depression in their skull is due to the formation of a large melon and multiple, asymmetric air bags.
Cetacea | Head