Scientists made a breakthrough in the study of whale sounds. Here’s a look at the numbers
Mar 16, 2026, 5:11 AM
This photo provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows a whale off the West Antarctica Peninsula on Jan. 4, 2017. (Tyler Rohr/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Tyler Rohr/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Researchers on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, recently discovered the oldest known recordings of whale sounds and believe the discovery could help understand how the animals communicate.
The recording is the song of a humpback whale, a species of large whale known for its complex songs. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts, said the sounds were recorded in March 1949 off Bermuda.
The recording is important because it documents whale song during a time when the ocean was quieter, scientists said.
Here’s a breakdown by the numbers.
The discovery predates the discovery of whale song by almost 20 years.
The recording predates scientist Roger Payne’s discovery of whale song by nearly 20 years. Woods Hole scientists on a research vessel at the time were testing sonar systems and performing acoustic experiments along with the U.S. Office of Naval Research when they captured the sound.
The sounds were recorded with crude audio equipment, but it was preserved on a plastic disc as opposed to tape. That allowed it to stand the test of time.
More than 90 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises make sounds.
Sound is critical to whales’ survival and important to how they socialize and communicate. Their sounds come in the form of clicks, whistles and calls.
Scientists who study whales say the sounds also allow the whales to find food, navigate, locate each other and understand their surroundings.
Scientists say some parts of the ocean are 10 times louder than they were in the 1960s.
Research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the mid-2000s found that underwater ocean noise off southern California had increased tenfold compared to the 1960s. The subject of ocean noise and its effect on animal life has been the subject of scientific inquiry in the years since.
The recordings discovered by Woods Hole scientists are from a quieter ocean. Scientists said that can help them better understand how new human-made sounds, like shipping noise, affect the way whales communicate.
The humpback whale is possibly the most accomplished vocalist in the ocean, and those songs come from a giant animal that can weigh more than 55,000 pounds (24,947 kilograms). Over the years, humpback whale songs have been recorded for human listening, with many describing the songs as having a haunting, mournful quality.
“Songs of the Humpback Whale,” an album, has sold more than 100,000 copies.
Payne produced the album in 1970, as the environmental movement was beginning to blossom. It’s the best selling environment album of all time.
The record also helped spark a global movement to end the practice of commercial whale hunting.
