If you are a fan of the sonar hypothesis, you must be proud of the latest research that has been done by some university students. A proposal has been put forward that says that singing humpbacks do not sing their songs to woo females for the mating process. That sounds surprising, right? Well, according to the proposal, they sing their songs to explore their environment more actively.
If you have a close look at some of the communication patterns of different types of animals. You will notice one thing for sure and that is consistency. For example, when a peacock is trying to attract a mating partner for the first time or for the 100th time, the flashy opening of its tail won't change. Similarly, when songbirds are singing songs and calling out female birds, it's just like a tape recorder that is playing the same songs again and again.
All in all, we can conclude that most of the animals attract their female partners via mostly similar signals. However, the scenario changes when we are discussing Humpback whales.
There is a great variety on display whenever they are singing to attract a partner for mating.
This makes them a particular subject right?
According to the study and research of Mercado, who is a professor of psychology at a university. He believes that these songs of humpback whales aren't to attract female partners. He is a firm believer that it is a form of echolocation. By stating this proposal in his paper, he has rejected the reproductive display hypothesis that believed Humpback whales sing songs to mate with female partners.
He believes that having sex might be one of the motivations behind it, but the main purpose is to find other whales around. He tries to prove his point by pointing out the narrowband and broadband sequences that are put on display by humpback whales.
By doing this, they gather a lot of advantages regarding echolocation.
All in all, whales are such enigmatic animals that a lot of study is yet to be done on them to conclude. Till then, why not enjoy all the mystery?
