Other than being some of the largest mammals in the seas, whales area also known for their “voices”. Call it the whale song, it’s true that the whales may sing to court mates but not only. The biggest Romeo of them all, is the humpback whale which is known to produce repetitious sounds at varying frequencies. That’s a whale song.

So exactly, why do whales sing?

To Find Juliette. Researchers think that the male humpback whales sing to impress their mates. It’s like a beautiful underwater serenade, that we humans call flirting. Usually, only male humpbacks learn to sing because they’re the ones going after the “ladies” – who expect to get found (kind of like humans, right?). And whale singers put the best on the table.

As a communication tool. Even though it’s assumed to have an important role in mate selection, the singing is not just to establish identity and dominance before mating. Recent studies concluded that whales use singing more like a general communication tool to keep communities together. And a good example is when migrating. Singing helps navigate new locales and keeps the group together. Scientists also call it echolocation. It’s the biological sonar of most whales.

Imagine yourself underwater, trying to say something to a fellow diver. Unless you have a microphone, you’ll definitely need to make some noise, right?

Now that you know why whales sing, think twice about whaling. It could be Romeo …

Original images courtesy of gwoodford and Peat Bakke

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The Japanese have been claiming all along that they have been doing research on the whales, not just hunting for dinner for a football team for a month.

A study has come out that says the whales are losing their blubber because ocean resources have been dwindling.

Japan conducted “lethal research” on 6,779 whales, about two-thirds were killed and some were pregnant.

The problem for the big Nemos is a lack of krill, a critical link in the food chain. The scarcity is blamed on climate change and the recovery of species like the humpback whale.

Minke whales shed nearly 10% of the blubber over 18 years and lose about 38lbs a year. I wonder if I were to remove krill from my diet, would I lose weight, too?

The study was led by Japan’s government-backed Institute of Cetacean Research and published in Polar Biology. Whale lovers say, “There is no need to kill whales to study them. ‘Research’ whaling is just commercial whaling under another name.”

Poor whales … if the Japanese don’t get them, climate change will.