THE MELODIE OF LOVE
Humpback whales are known for many reasons, for being beautiful, for being one of the most studied species of whales and for their beautiful vocalizations!
Whales and dolphins (and many other sea creatures) rely on sound to find their food, to know more about their surroundings, to find each other and to communicate.
But humpback whales do something different, something special, something that can arouse emotions in humans. These whales create and repeat different sounds with a specific structure and this in human language is what we call a song.
These songs have been mainly heard in the breeding grounds and only males have been seen doing it, so it is believed to be a way for them to attract the females. What a beautiful way!
Roger Payne was a biologist who dedicated his life to studying humpback whale vocalizations. Thanks to these gentlemen, people got to know how beautifully these animals sound! In 1970 Roger published an album with humpback whale songs that he recorded during his studies, rapidly becoming one of the bestselling albums.
It is true to say that this album changed the destiny of humpback whales. As you may know, whaling had a terrible impact on many whale species almost causing them to disappear. But this album awoke something in people and was the driving force behind the whale conservation movement.
Happily, we say that nowadays on our planet we have an estimated 180 000 humpback whales living in our oceans. Hopefully, the number will grow even more!
You can learn more about Roger Payne on his website https://rogerpayne.com/ and go hear these beautiful melodies!
“I started playing humpback whale sounds to friends and other small audiences, and soon it became very clear that these sounds moved people deeply.” - Roger Payne
The photos are frames of an underwater video that I made when I was working in a breeding ground (Whale Watch Cabo - Baja California Sur). The video was taken from the boat respecting all of the rules of code of conduct.
- Sara