The song of humpback whales off of the coast of Cape Town
Loading player...
Cape Town has long been a famous stopover for lonely seafarers – a last chance of nightlife before crossing the sea.
Now scientists have shown the same is true underwater, where visiting humpback whales spend up to 17hrs a day singing to each other, sometimes together, in sing-a-longs that can be heard at least 30km away.
The humpback singing came as a surprise to a group of Cape Town maritime researchers who had set out to record dolphin sounds using underwater microphones in False Bay. In addition to dolphin sounds they discovered over 211 hours of humpback singing from 63 separate sessions.
Now scientists have shown the same is true underwater, where visiting humpback whales spend up to 17hrs a day singing to each other, sometimes together, in sing-a-longs that can be heard at least 30km away.
The humpback singing came as a surprise to a group of Cape Town maritime researchers who had set out to record dolphin sounds using underwater microphones in False Bay. In addition to dolphin sounds they discovered over 211 hours of humpback singing from 63 separate sessions.
