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...repetition rate, and the number of repetitions in a phrase are characteristic of the species [1]. More complex vocalizations are observed in many birds [2], as well as in a few mammals such as whales =-=[3]-=- and bats [4]. These species generate multiple types of sounds organized in more intricate phrases. Rodents produce a variety of social vocalizations, including vocalizations audible to humans, like p...

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...e or flipper slaps in sequences of 3-21 sounds. Source levels ranged from 162 (low-frequency pulse trains) to 192 dB '(surface impacts), re: 1 pPa, 1 m. Songs, commonly heard on winter breeding rounds, were absent from our recordings. Feeding and perhaps certain other whale activities can be monitored based on sound production. PACS numbers: 43.80.Nd, 43.80.Lb INTRODUCTION During winter and early spring on the breeding rounds near Hawaii, Mexico, Bermuda, and the West Indies, humpback whales produce repeated patterns ofspectacular underwater sounds called whale "song" (e.g., Winn et aL, 1981; Payne and McVay, 1971; Payne and Payne, 1985). Little has been published about their sounds at other seasons and places. Schevill and Watkins (1962), Schevill (1964), and Winn et aL (1979) reported few sounds and no songs at high latitudes in the North Atlantic. Bioacoustic and related behavior of this species innorthern waters recently has been of great interest because of increased human activities in the whale's summer habitats, e.g., Maline et aL, 1982. For these reasons, we believe it is important o document our observations and measurements. The main objective of the work presented here (Thompson et aL, 1977...

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...onds (McDonald et al., Submitted). An individual unit is defined as a continuous sound having consistent characteristics; these vocalisation units are often repeated in patterned sequences, or songs (=-=Payne and McVay, 1971-=-; McDonald et al., Submitted). These song units have been shown to vary geographically (Cummings and Thompson, 1971; Edds, 1982; Thompson and Friedl, 1982; Alling et al., 1991; Thompson and Cummings, ...

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...nology has often been described as a uniquely human trait (e.g. Hockett, 1960; Jackendoff, 2002), it is increasingly realised that many examples of bird and cetacean songs (e.g. Doupe and Kuhl, 1999; =-=Payne and McVay, 1971-=-) and, importantly, nonhuman primate calls are combinatorial as well (Ujhelyi, 1996). For instance, the “long calls” of tamarin monkeys are built up from many repetitions of the same element (e.g. Mas...

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...the whales. The mobile OAWRS system was used to image fish shoals over a 100 km diameter area [18–20]. Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sing long, complex songs on their breeding grounds =-=[21]-=-. In addition, humpback whales have been shown to sing on migration [22] and feeding grounds [23]. On breeding grounds, humpback whales may alter song production in response to boat noise, seismic sur...

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...nd dynamic vocal repertoire making the classification of their vocalizations challenging. A song in bioacoustics is defined as a series of stereotyped notes that are repeated in a predictable pattern =-=[35,36]-=-. The complexity of song varies greatly between species [9] and in some species also between seasons and individuals [37]. Calls in contrast are generally shorter in duration, lower in frequency and s...

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...ean has a winter distribution along the western coast of Africa from Namibia to Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea [4–7]. Humpback whales are well known for their song, an elaborate male breeding display =-=[8]-=-. Studies have shown that songs are organized into a stereotyped, hierarchical pattern of units, phrases and themes, all males within a population share a common set of themes, and songs gradually cha...

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...ssociated together as a “phrase.” These phrases are repeated in certain patterns that are called “themes,” and these themes are cycled through in an consistent pattern to form a “song” [6], [9]–[11], =-=[52]-=-–[54]. A representative selection of sound units shown in a transition between theme “A” and “C” of an eastern Australian song is illustrated in Fig. 4. Several hyperbolic fixes throughout the animal ...

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...stereotypic calls. A second explanation is that Sei whales may produce different types of calls in the low latitude wintering grounds than in the high latitude feeding grounds, as do humpback whales (=-=Payne & McVay 1971-=-). Low-frequency downswept calls have been recorded in the presence of most baleen whales species, and these sounds may serve a different144 function from the geographically distinct stereotyped voca...