Why We Should Worry When Whales Stop Singing

-- A hungry whale is a quiet whale. A new first-of-its kind study found the marine mammals vocalized less after a marine heat wave decimated their prey, making whale songs a barometer of the effects of climate change on ocean ecosystems. Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and their colleagues analyzed whale songs recorded by underwater microphones in the marine sanctuary between 2015 and 2021, a period that included a years-long marine heat wave that researchers have linked to climate change. “If they're seeking refuge in a new area that has more prey available, then we need to figure that out so we can protect those refuges,” said Vanessa ZoBell, a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Whale Acoustics Lab at the University of California at San Diego who was not involved in the study. A whale has no energy for song “if it’s harder to gather the food resources it needs to sustain a body that can weigh more than 300,000 pounds.” “Beyond being beautiful compositions that are wonderful to listen to, these songs are a window into their lives and their resilience through a heat wave as well as their vulnerability,” he added.