VOA科学技术2024--How Do Whales 'Sing?'

How Do Whales 'Sing?'

　　It is one of Earth's loudest sounds in the ocean: the "singing" of whales.

　　Now scientists think they have an idea of how baleen¹ whales do it. They say the large air-breathing sea animals use a special voice box that enables them to make sound underwater.

　　Scientists say the discovery is based on a very small study. But it will direct future research into how whales communicate.

　　The new findings are in a study published recently in the scientific publication Nature. Coen Elemans of the University of Southern Denmark and other international scientists studied the voice boxes, or larynxes, of three dead whales from the beaches of Denmark and Scotland. The three were humpback, minke and sei whales. All three are part of the family of baleen whales, a group that includes the blue whale, the largest animal that ever existed on Earth.

　　Voice box

　　In the laboratory, the scientists blew air through the voice boxes under controlled conditions to see what tissues might vibrate. They also created computer models of the sei whale's vocalizations and matched them to recordings³ of similar whales taken in the wild.

　　Whales' ancestors were land animals that moved into the oceans about 50 million years ago. Elemans said the animals' voice box changed over tens of millions of years in order to make sounds underwater.

　　Baleen whales do not have teeth or vocal² cords like humans and other mammals. Instead, they have U-shaped tissue in their voice boxes that permits them to breathe a lot of air very quickly. Their voice boxes also contain a large "cushion" of fat and muscle not seen in other animals. Whales "sing" by pushing the tissue against the fat and muscle cushion.

　　Elemans said baleen whales depend on the production of sound to communicate in the dark of the deep oceans. "For example, humpback females and their calves⁴ communicate with each other by voice, and humpback males sing to attract females," he added.

　　Jeremy Goldbogen is a professor of oceans at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research. He said, "This is the most comprehensive and significant study to date on how baleen whales vocalize, a long-standing mystery in the field."

　　The whale voice boxes tested were from younger animals, not adult males, who do the singing. Because of that, whale expert Joy Reidenberg said further experiments on adult males are needed to confirm the study's findings.

　　Reidenberg works for the Center for Anatomy⁵ and Functional⁶ Morphology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She noted⁷ that the research is probably as close as we can get to reproducing how whales sing.

　　"Right now, our technology involves sticking a scope into a whale to see what exactly is vibrating," she said. "Since you're never going to be able to do that in a wild animal, these experiments are the next best thing."

　　Shipping⁸ noise

　　As loud as whales' songs are, the study suggests that whales cannot produce sounds louder than noise from the shipping industry, Elemans said.

　　"They're really affected⁹ by (shipping noise) and it significantly reduces their ability to communicate," he said. "There's just no way for them to get louder."

　　Because some whales sing as a mating call, the shipping industry's interference with those songs is a concern, said Michael Noad. He is director of the Center for Marine¹⁰ Science at the University of Queensland in Australia. He also was not part of the Nature study.　　"For whale populations that are really dispersed¹¹, like the Antarctic blue whales, they might not be able to find mates in a noisy ocean environment," he said. However, whales like humpbacks that gather in big numbers are more likely to ignore such noise pollution.

　　Words in This Story

　　baleen –n. a hard material in the mouth of some kinds of whales that permits them to eat very small shrimp¹² in the ocean

　　vibrate –v. to move back and forth¹³ quickly, often producing sound

　　vocalization –n. the act of making a sound, such as speech or singing, using the throat

1 baleen   

n.鲸须

参考例句：

• Other baleen whales have splash guards too,but not like this.一些须鲸物种头顶也有护住喷水孔的构造，但并不长成这样。
• Baleen whales often appear in this region. Be careful!这一带经常有须鲸出没，要注意安全啊。

2 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

3 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

4 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

6 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

11 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

12 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

13 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。