2024-03-03 21:30:00
The study of three carcasses made it possible to understand how baleen whales communicate. The latter have developed a sort of unique voice box that creates low-frequency vocalizations.
They are the largest animals living on earth. Mysticetes, also called baleen whales, which include current blue whales, humpback whales and fin whales, depend on sounds to identify the shape of objects, locate food or communicate with their peers. Singing, in particular, is thought to play a role in the mating of male humpback whales. A team of scientists has discovered the mechanism behind the complex vocalizations of this species.
A larynx that has evolved
Scientists have been studying whale songs for more than 50 years but have never been able to unlock their secret. A study published on February 21 in the journal Nature reveals that baleen whales have developed unique parts in their larynx that are the source of their complex vocalizations.
“Toothed and baleen whales come from mammals terrestrial whose larynx fulfilled two functions: protection of the respiratory tract and production of sons. However, their transition to aquatic life placed strict new demands on the larynx to prevent suffocation underwater.explains Professor Tecumseh Fitch, from the University of Vienna (Austria). “It evolved when Pisces came out of the sea and the animals needed a way to separate the air they breathed from the food they took in.details his colleague Coen Elemans, professor of biology at the University of Southern Denmark.
Very low frequency underwater sounds
By studying the larynx of stranded whales, researchers discovered significant modifications, particularly in the arytenoidstiny cartilages in the larynx responsible for adjusting vocal folds. These have changed dramatically in baleen whales.
“The arytenoids have evolved into large, long cylinders fused at the base to form a large, rigid U-shaped structure that extends almost the entire length of the larynx”, reports Coen Elemans. This famous U-shaped structure pushes against a large fatty cushion inside the larynx and which begins to vibrate when whales push air from their lungs beyond this cushion. This is when very low frequency underwater sounds are produced. This way of producing sounds has never been observed in any other mammal.
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