Only male fin whales sing loud songs.
The low-frequency vocalizations of fin and blue whales are the most powerful and ubiquitous biological sounds in the ocean. Here we combine acoustic localization and molecular techniques to show that, in fin whales, only males produce these vocalizations. This finding indicates that they may function as male breeding displays, and will help to focus concern on the impact of human-generated low-frequency sounds on recovering whale populations.
Croll
Donald A
DA
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Ocean Health, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA. croll@biology.ucsc.edu
Clark
Christopher W
CW
Acevedo
Alejandro
A
Tershy
Bernie
B
Flores
Sergio
S
Gedamke
Jason
J
Urban
Jorge
J
D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012744:Sex Ratio; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D014907:Whales / Q000502:physiology*