Unique North Queensland whale pick up lines full of ‘moans, howls, cries’
A new choir has captured the attention of North Queenslanders this winter, with submersible hydrophones being used in a tourist hot spot to listen in on our whales. Hear the songs.
Townsville
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A new choir has captured the attention of North Queenslanders, with submersible hydrophones being used in a tourist hot spot to listen in on our whales and decipher what they’re saying.
The partnership between tourism operators and the Reef Authority in the Whitsundays is giving scientists a new library of whale songs – and tourists a chance to listen.
As of mid-July, the huge 40 tonne animals have already been spotted off Townsville, and have even begun calving in the Whitsundays.
Boaties who come across a whale can report its location to the Reef Authority via the Eye on the Reef app, helping scientists track where our whales are breeding and playing on the reef.
Eye on the Reef program manager Chris Jones said humpbacks were our symbol for what’s going on in Antarctica.
“We’ve got some fantastic recordings of our local whales and it’s going to be fantastic when we compare them to other international recordings, because humpbacks do have their own culture,” Mr Jones said.
“We’ve gotten these songs through our Master Reef Guides program, which is a group of whale lovers who are recording whale songs around the Whitsundays.”
There are 27 Master Reef Guides located in the Whitsundays, including dive instructor Kellie Leonard from Explore Group Whitsundays, and Whitsunday Luxury Sailing Holiday owner Lynne Boyce.
Citizen scientists have played an important role in whale conservation in North Queensland – in 2009 whale sightings by tourism operators were key to scientists discovering a critical calving area in the Whitsundays, which lead to the islands becoming a Whale Heritage Area, the second one ever in Australia after Hervey Bay.
Mr Jones said the research shows male humpbacks were the biggest singers, and they probably only do so during the mating season.
“Studies found they’re either ‘love songs’ to attract a female or ‘intimidation’ songs to keep rival males away,” he said.
“Male humpbacks sing unique and evolving songs, much like human dialects, that resound from Australia’s east coast all the way to Antarctica and New Caledonia.”
Mr Jones said the songs could be considered whale “pick-up lines” that were passed culturally between different whale groups.
These ‘pick up lines’ are made up of moans, howls, cries and other noises, according to the Reef Authority.
Humpback calves are also known to ‘whisper’ to their mothers with gentle vocalisations.
Whale facts:
– Humpback whales mate face-to-face, locking into a ‘huge’ with their 5m long flippers
– Humpback whales can grow up to 40 tonnes, and the females are larger than the males
– The Queensland whale watching season is July to October
– In 1960, only 300 Queensland whales remained after the population was wiped out by whaling
– There is now estimated to be more than 40,000 whales who migrate to and from the Great Barrier Reef
Stay safe around whales:
– Stay more than 100m away from a whale
– There is a 300-metre exclusion zone around whale calves in the Whitsunday Whale Protection Area
– Jet skis must be at least 300m away from whales
– No drones within 1000ft of whales
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Originally published as Unique North Queensland whale pick up lines full of ‘moans, howls, cries’