Scientists might have finally figured out how whales sing
Newsy
Researchers studying baleen whales found they have evolved a specialized voice box that isn't found in any other animals.
Scientists think they might have finally learned the secret to how whales sing their complicated songs.
We knew whales made a vast array of vocalizations, called songs, that can carry for thousands of miles underwater under the right conditions.
But only now are scientists learning more about the biological mechanisms that baleen whales use to make these unique noises.
Coen Elemans, from the University of Southern Denmark, led a team that studied the carcasses of three whales that had died after being stranded, representing three different baleen whale species: A humpback, minke and sei whale.
They found all of the whales have evolved a specialized voice box that isn't found in any other animals. It includes a u-shaped mass of tissue that enables whales to take in large amounts of air, and a unique "cushion" of fat and muscle that this tissue presses against to create sound.
