Humpback Whale Songs on a North Atlantic Feeding Ground

Payne and McVay (1971) described the continuous stereotyped vocalizations produced by humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) as "songs." Detailed analyses of humpback whale songs from the lowto mid-latitude waters of the eastern North Pacific (Payne et al., 1983) and the western North Atlantic (Payne and Payne, 1985; Winn and Winn, 1978) have shown that the songs change rapidly and progressively over time.