Cultural Exchange
British researchers say humpback whales have distinctive songs that are unique to where they originally came from, but the tunes can change over time.
Ellen Garland of the University of St. Andrews says those songs evolve as the marine mammals encounter others of their species while traveling through the oceans.
“We can pinpoint a population a whale has likely come from by what they are singing,” Garland says.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Garland says the sharing of whale song is a type of cultural exchange that occurs throughout whales’ lives.
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