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Study: Songs from humpback whales can travel halfway around the world

It has long been believed that whales are the most intelligent mammals. According to a new study from the Royal Society Open Science, humpback whales use songs to communicate and travel up to 8000 kilometres across the ocean to do so.

According to reports, a group of researchers from Ecuador’s Universidad San Francisco de Quito recorded melodies that were reportedly first heard by humpback whales off the coast of eastern Australia. The identical song was heard several years later all the way in Ecuador, indicating that the voice had travelled across the South Pacific Ocean.

Researchers gave the example of a male whale singing an entirely different song from the nearby whales on Australia’s east coast. However, it matched the song sung on the west coast.

The fact that all male whales along the east coast began singing the same song within two years suggests that the cultural revolution among whales occurred far more quickly than previously believed.

It’s still unclear, though, what the songs are advocating. It is still unknown if male whales utilise it to communicate with other males, arbitrate interactions between them, or send messages.

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