Hear Pacific Coast Right Whales 'Sing' For The First Time Ever

WESTPORT, WA — NOAA scientists in Alaska have recorded North Pacific right whales "singing" for the first time, confirming a behavior seen in other types of whales.

Until now, scientists thought North Pacific right whales, which range from the Washington coast east to Japan, only made short, pattered sounds to call out to each other. The recordings confirm that the whales use more complex phrasing to communicate.

NOAA researchers have reported hearing a "weird pattern of sounds" during whale surveys since 2010. Scientists were able to document the singing through recordings. NOAA released two recordings of the whales singing on Wednesday.

“We heard these same songs during a summer survey in 2017, and were able to localize the songs to male right whales,” said Jessica Crance with the Marine Mammal Laboratory at NOAA Fisheries’ Alaska Fisheries Science Center. “We can now definitively say these are right whales, which is so exciting because this hasn’t been heard yet in any other right whale population.”

The singing male right whales were discovered in a small population of just 30 whales living in the Bering Sea. Crance and other researchers will continue to study the phenomenon to figure out what the songs represent — scientists believe the sounds might be connected to mating season.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that right whale species living in the Atlantic and South Pacific have exhibited singing behavior.