Greenpeace reports rare whale song captured in the Southern Ocean

You don't need to fire an exploding harpoon into a whale and kill it in order to study it. While we deploy hydrophones and take photographs as our Great Whale Trail expedition continues, we are proving that the scientific excuse for killing whales is a sham and we are demanding that the Japanese government stop the whale hunt in the Southern Ocean. This week we added research into whale song to the satellite tracking, skin biopsy, and photo identification work in which we've been collaborating with scientists from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cook Islands Whale Research, and Opération Cétacés (New Caledonia).

Humpback whales are the only whales that truly "sing", and it is only the males that do it, usually when they are in their tropical breeding grounds. But sometimes songs are heard while the whales are migrating and very occasionally when they are feeding. So this recording of a humpback singing in the Southern Ocean is very valuable for research on humpback behaviour. Nobody really knows why they sing but one of the most popular scientific theories is that the males use it to show off to the females -- in much the same way peacocks have elaborate tails in order to try and attract a potential mate.

While Esperanza's crew documented this baleen banquet for science, spectators from around in the world were able to take part in a virtual whale watching trip via the newly updated live web cam on the ship, which provided a fantastic view from the top of the ship's mast. - Source: By Greenpeace