Whales give up singing and now fight to mate

16 Feb. () –

Male humpback whales off the east coast of Australia are stopping singing to attract a mate and they dedicate themselves to fighting their male competitors.

Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop, from the University of Queensland (UQ) School of Biological Sciences, led research looking at nearly two decades of data on humpback whale behavior and discovered that singing is no longer in fashion when it comes to seducing.

“In 1997, a male singing whale was nearly twice as likely to be seen attempting to mate with a female as a non-singing male,” Dunlop explained.

“However, by 2015 the tide had changed: non-singing males were almost five times more likely to be seen attempting to mate than singing males. That’s a pretty big behavioral shift, so humans aren’t the only subjects.” to great social changes in regards to mating rituals”.

The researchers believe that the change has occurred progressively as populations recovered after the widespread cessation of hunting of whales in the 1960s.

“If the competition is fierce, the last thing the male wants to do is announce that there is a female in the area, because it could attract other males that could compete with the singer for the female”explains Dr. Dunlop.

“By switching to songless behavior, males may be less likely to attract competition and more likely to stay with the female. If other males find them, then they either compete or leave. In humpback whales, physical aggression tends to manifest in the form of lunges and blows to the head.This carries the risk of physical injury, so males must weigh the costs and benefits of each tactic,” Explain.

Dr Dunlop said the males were less likely to sing in the presence of other males. “Singing was the dominant mating tactic in 1997, but in the space of seven years this has changed,” she said.

“It will be fascinating to see how the mating behavior of whales continues to be shaped in the future.“.

Co-author Associate Professor Celine Frere said previous work by UQ Professor Michael Noad found that the whale population it grew from approximately 3,700 whales to 27,000 between 1997 and 2015.

“We used this rich data set, collected off Queensland’s Peregian Beach, to explore how this large change in the social dynamics of the whales could lead to changes in their mating behaviour,” said Dr Frere.

“We tested the hypothesis that whales may be less likely to use singing as a mating tactic when population sizes are larger, to avoid attracting other males to their potential mate.”

The research is published in Communications Biology.