Ancient whale song recording reveals decades old secret of the ocean

A haunting whale song, captured on decades-old audio equipment, has been unearthed by researchers, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the communication of these colossal marine animals and potentially revolutionising our understanding of their vocalisation. This discovery represents the oldest known recording of its kind.

The ethereal song belongs to a humpback whale, a species cherished by enthusiasts for its gentle nature and spectacular breaches. The recording was made by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, according to researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Equally significant is the ambient sound of the ocean itself, notes Peter Tyack, a marine bioacoustician and emeritus research scholar at Woods Hole. The marine environment of the late 1940s was considerably quieter than it is today, providing a vastly different acoustic backdrop for whale song than contemporary scientists are accustomed to hearing.

The recovered recordings "not only allow us to follow whale sounds, but they also tell us what the ocean soundscape was like in the late 1940s," Mr Tyack explained. "That’s very difficult to reconstruct otherwise."

A preserved recording from this era could also offer crucial insights into how new human-made sounds, such as increased shipping noise, impact whale communication. Research published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates that whales can modify their calling behaviour in response to environmental noise.

Remarkably, this recording predates scientist Roger Payne's seminal discovery of whale song by nearly two decades. Woods Hole scientists, aboard a research vessel at the time, were conducting sonar system tests and acoustic experiments in collaboration with the U.S. Office of Naval Research when they inadvertently captured the sound, said Ashley Jester, director of research data and library services at Woods Hole.

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The scientists, initially unaware of what they were hearing, nonetheless decided to record and preserve the sounds. "And they were curious. And so they kept this recorder running, and they even made time to make recordings where they weren't making any noise from their ships on purpose just to hear as much as they could," Ms Jester added. "And they kept these recordings."

The long-lost song came to light last year when Woods Hole scientists were digitising old audio recordings. It was found on a remarkably well-preserved disc created by a Gray Audograph, a type of dictation machine prevalent in the 1940s, which Ms Jester located.

While the early underwater recording equipment used to capture the sound would be considered rudimentary by modern standards, it was cutting-edge for its time, Ms Jester noted. The fact that the sound was recorded on a plastic disc is particularly significant, as most recordings from that period were on tape, which has largely deteriorated over the decades.

Whales’ ability to produce sound is fundamental to their survival and crucial for their socialisation and communication. These sounds manifest as clicks, whistles, and calls, according to NOAA scientists who study them.

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These vocalisations also enable whales to locate food, navigate, find one another, and comprehend their surroundings in the vast ocean. Several species produce repetitive sounds akin to songs. Humpback whales, which can weigh over 24,947 kilograms, are recognised as the ocean's most celebrated singers, capable of intricate vocalizations that can sound ethereal or even mournful.

The discovery of this long-lost whale song from a quieter ocean could serve as a vital starting point for a deeper understanding of the sounds these animals produce today, suggested Hansen Johnson, a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium.

"And, you know, it's just beautiful to listen to and has really inspired a lot of people to be curious about the ocean, and care about ocean life in general," said Mr Johnson, who was not involved in the research. "It's pretty special."