Song function in humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae): the use of song in the social interactions of singers on migration

TL;DRAbstract

Male song and other acoustic signals are often sexually selected traits that are common in many taxa, such as birds, anurans and insects. Song often serves a dual function in female attraction and male-male competition and song characteristics such as duration, rate, repertoire size and amplitude are important for both functions and to be correlated with male reproductive success. Male humpback whales are well known for singing a complex and highly stereotyped song during the breeding season and while the song appears important in the social interactions of humpback whales during the breeding season, the function of song is still unclear. Current debate surrounds whether song is primarily directed towards females as an elaborate acoustic display or towards other males to facilitate male social ordering. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the nature of interactions between singers and conspecifics and document the context in which singing occurs. This was achieved by: (1) investi

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