The multiple functions of male song within the humpback whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae) mating system: review, evaluation, and synthesis

• Published in: Biological Reviews
• Main Author: Herman, Louis M.
• Other Authors: National Science Foundation, Marine Mammal Commission, Office of Naval Research, National Park Service
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Lone; Humpback Whale; Megaptera novaeangliae
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12309; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fbrv.12309; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/brv.12309; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/brv.12309; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/brv.12309

ABSTRACT Humpback whales ( M egaptera novaeangliae ) are seasonal breeders, annually migrating from high‐latitude summer feeding grounds to low‐latitude winter breeding grounds. The social matrix on the winter grounds is a loose network of interacting individuals and groups and notably includes lone males that produce long bouts of complex song that collectively yield an asynchronous chorus. Occasionally, a male will sing while accompanying other whales. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the social matrix, the full characterization of the mating system remains unresolved, without any firm consensus, as does the function of song within that system. Here, I consider and critically analyse three proposed functions of song that have received the most attention in the literature: female attraction to individual singers, determining or facilitating male–male interactions, and attracting females to a male aggregation within the context of a lekking system. Female attraction suggests that humpback song is an advertisement and invitation to females, but field observations and song playback studies reveal that female visits to individual singers are virtually absent. Other observations suggest instead that females might convey their presence to singers (or to other males) through the percussive sounds of flipper or tail slapping or possibly through vocalizations. There is some evidence for male–male interactions, both dominance and affiliative : visits to singers are almost always other lone males not singing at that time. The joiner may be seeking a coalition with the singer to engage cooperatively in attempts to obtain females, or may be seeking to disrupt the song or to affirm his dominance. Some observations support one or the other intent. However, other observations, in part based on the brevity of most pairings, suggest that the joiner is prospecting, seeking to determine whether the singer is accompanying a female, and if not soon departs. In the lekking hypothesis , the aggregation of vocalizing males on a ...