Whalesong
Every
winter without fail, the whales of the southern ocean, migrate from
Antarctica towards the tip of Africa, where they split into two groups – one
swimming up the west coast into the waters of the
Atlantic Ocean and the other up the east coast into the Indian Ocean. The
same pilgrimage has been made for hundreds of years, with the same group
returning each year to the same bay. They come so close to shore, that
on still nights from my bed in my house next to the sea where Fish Notes
and Star Songs is set, I can hear the hollow sound as they clear air
through their blowholes,
while they wallow about just beyond the surf.
It’s believed the long haunting moans and high pitched sounds whales make, are used by males to woo females and to scare off rivals. In the humpback whale, the sounds are so distinctive, they’re referred to as ‘song’. They often repeat the same song for hours, broken only by pauses for breath. Males in the same geographical area sing songs with similar themes which are different to songs from another area. What is more fascinating is that they are great composers. The song is continually evolving and changing gradually over time, so although the theme can be recognised as being from a particular group, each year another series of sounds will be added or removed.
Researchers aren't sure exactly how the whales produce the sounds. Whales don't have vocal cords, so they probably sing by circulating air through the tubes and chambers of their respiratory system. But no air escapes while they are making the sounds and their mouths don't move.
Conservationists are concerned that whales and their song are under threat from loud noises that are being introduced into the world’s oceans, like the powerful sonar being developed by the military to detect enemy submarines at a distance. Little is known about the effect these sonic sounds will have on sea life - especially whales.
Fish Notes and Star Songs, is not so much a story about whales, as a suggestion that there are mysterious parts to our world that we don’t completely understand - yet even though we don’t understand them, it doesn’t mean they can’t be meaningful.
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