Blue whales sing less when they are starving and sing more when food is plentiful, a recent study revealed. Researchers listened to whales off California for six years and found that their singing increased following a marine heatwave — despite multiple news outlets claiming that blue whales are going silent.
Whales have a range of vocalizations, but only the males sing. There's evidence of males using their songs to attract females and communicate with other males, said study lead author John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. "It's an essential part of how they sense their world and interact with each other," he told Live Science.
