“Humpbacks make three main
types of sounds,” Joe explains.
“Both the males and the females
call loudly when they’re hungry or
eating. Males ‘talk’ when they’re
hanging out in groups. And males
sing during mating time.”
     Joe first heard the whales’
feeding calls from a tape that
another scientist had made.
The whales were feeding in their
summer home off the coast of
Alaska. All were scooping up
small fish and shrimplike krill
with their enormous mouths. And
they seemed to call to each other
while they ate. “You can imagine
how noisy they were!” Joe says
with a laugh. “They eat all the
time during the summer,” he
continues, “but they almost never
eat during the winter.”

     To listen to whales in winter,
Joe doesn’t have to go far. He just
heads to their winter home in the
ocean around Maui. That’s when
he hears the second kind of whale
sound, which he calls “talking.”
     Joe explains what the sounds
may mean: ”Whales hang out
in groups called pods. While they’re
in pods, the male whales make
strange clicks, creaks, roars, and
whines. Some of them seem to
be signaling to females, as if they
were saying, ‘Hey, I’m over here!’
Or they might be saying to other
males, ‘This is my mate, so stay
away.’ So far, no one has heard
females or young whales
‘talking’ in this way.”

These scientists are recording
humpback whale songs.

     Whale songs are the third kind
of sound that Joe studies. You may
have heard them on records. Some
parts of a whale’s song sound
sad, like children crying. Some
parts are high squeaks. And some
rumble like thunder.
     “These songs are beautiful,
but loud!” Joe says. ”They’re much
louder than any other animal
sound, louder even than rock
music. Our boat shakes when a
singing whale is close by.”
     A humpback’s song has parts
that are repeated over and over.
One song can last 30 minutes.

You have read A Symphony of
Whales about beluga whales
and “He Listens to Whales”
about humpback whales.
What do the two kinds of
whales have in common?

Reading Across Texts

Then the whale might repeat
the whole song. Sometimes a
humpback sings for more than
20 hours without stopping!

This scientist is listening for whale calls.

In general, what can you say about whale songs?

Generalize