A haunting whale song, discovered on decades-old audio equipment, could unlock new insights into how these colossal marine mammals communicate, according to researchers who identify it as the oldest known recording of its kind.
The melody belongs to a humpback whale, a marine giant cherished by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water. Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts, captured the sound in March 1949 off the coast of Bermuda.
