Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga
Some humpback whales migrate annually from Antarctic feeding grounds to the seas around the Tongan Islands to give birth and mate. The Tongan humpbacks are considered part of Southern Hemisphere Group V that splits during migration, some swimming to Eastern Australia and others to various Polynesian...
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crbrillap:10.1163/1568539053778283 2024-09-15T17:47:08+00:00 Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga Helweg, David A. Eriksen, Nina Tougaard, Jakob Miller, Lee A. 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539053778283 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/142/3/article-p305_3.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/142/3/article-p305_3.xml unknown Brill Behaviour volume 142, issue 3, page 305-328 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X journal-article 2005 crbrillap https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539053778283 2024-08-12T04:07:28Z Some humpback whales migrate annually from Antarctic feeding grounds to the seas around the Tongan Islands to give birth and mate. The Tongan humpbacks are considered part of Southern Hemisphere Group V that splits during migration, some swimming to Eastern Australia and others to various Polynesian Islands. During this time long complex songs are produced. The song is thought to be a male breeding display and may serve either as an intra-sexual or an inter-sexual signal or both. It is in a constant state of change that occurs every season. Since these changes are directional they cannot be described by drift, and singers incorporate changes as they occur, thus song must be shared through cultural transmission. This investigation describes the cultural changes that occurred in 158 songs recorded from Tongan humpbacks through the 1990s. The rate of change differed within years, some themes were retained for as much as five years and others were lost after only two years. The farther apart the years the less similar are the songs, as in the humpback songs of the Northern Hemisphere. The largest number of changes seems to have occurred in the early 1990s where all themes seemed to have been lost and new ones originated. What initiates these changes remains speculative, but we assess some hypotheses in relation to humpback whale behaviour and cultural transmission in avian song. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Brill Behaviour 142 3 305 328 |
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description |
Some humpback whales migrate annually from Antarctic feeding grounds to the seas around the Tongan Islands to give birth and mate. The Tongan humpbacks are considered part of Southern Hemisphere Group V that splits during migration, some swimming to Eastern Australia and others to various Polynesian Islands. During this time long complex songs are produced. The song is thought to be a male breeding display and may serve either as an intra-sexual or an inter-sexual signal or both. It is in a constant state of change that occurs every season. Since these changes are directional they cannot be described by drift, and singers incorporate changes as they occur, thus song must be shared through cultural transmission. This investigation describes the cultural changes that occurred in 158 songs recorded from Tongan humpbacks through the 1990s. The rate of change differed within years, some themes were retained for as much as five years and others were lost after only two years. The farther apart the years the less similar are the songs, as in the humpback songs of the Northern Hemisphere. The largest number of changes seems to have occurred in the early 1990s where all themes seemed to have been lost and new ones originated. What initiates these changes remains speculative, but we assess some hypotheses in relation to humpback whale behaviour and cultural transmission in avian song. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Helweg, David A. Eriksen, Nina Tougaard, Jakob Miller, Lee A. |
spellingShingle |
Helweg, David A. Eriksen, Nina Tougaard, Jakob Miller, Lee A. Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
author_facet |
Helweg, David A. Eriksen, Nina Tougaard, Jakob Miller, Lee A. |
author_sort |
Helweg, David A. |
title |
Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
title_short |
Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
title_full |
Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
title_fullStr |
Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Tonga |
title_sort |
cultural change in the songs of humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) from tonga |
publisher |
Brill |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568539053778283 https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/142/3/article-p305_3.xml https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/beh/142/3/article-p305_3.xml |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Behaviour volume 142, issue 3, page 305-328 ISSN 0005-7959 1568-539X |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539053778283 |
container_title |
Behaviour |
container_volume |
142 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
305 |
op_container_end_page |
328 |
_version_ |
1810495844224335872 |