Subject: Re: whale communication
Steve Frohock (Sfrohock@tiac.net)
Sun, 03 Nov 1996 20:00:02 -0800
Beth Thomas wrote:
>
> Hi! My name is Beth Thomas and I was wondering how whales communicate?
Hi Beth, Whales can communicate in a number of different ways. All
whales and dolphins make a wide variety of sounds. They lack vocal cords,
so it is believed these sounds are produced by moving air around internal
cavities. Sounds are used communicate with other whales, to locate food
and probably to help with navigation. Humpback whales produce long,
intricate songs that the males sing on the breeding grounds. Dolphins
produce echolocation clicks (sonar) to find food. Fin and blue whales
produce very low sounds that may be heard over hundreds of miles away.
Whales also communicate in "non-verbal" ways such as breaching of flipper
slapping. This type of communication is probably used to convey social
messages at close range, possibly relaying information used in dominance
hierarchies.
I did some searching for you and found some whale sounds on the web. Go
to http://www.lycos.com and search for whale communication then click on
the "Sound" button. It listed 88 different sires that have whale sounds.
You can also find additional information on communication using the web
search engine altavista (http://www.altavista.digital.com)
Steve