The whales stop singing and now prefer to fight to mate.

Male humpback whales off the east coast Australia they forgo singing to attract a mate and dedicate themselves to fighting their male competitors.

Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop of the School of Biosciences at the University of Queensland (UQ) conducted the study, which looked at almost two decades of animal behavior data. humpback whales and discovered that singing is no longer in vogue when it comes to seduction.

“In 1997 male whale the likelihood that this singer will try to mate with a female is almost twice as high as that of a non-singing male,” Dunlop explained.

“However, by 2015, the tide had changed, with non-singing males nearly five times more likely to attempt mating than singing males. Changes in mating rituals.”

progressive change

The researchers believe the change happened gradually as populations recovered from the widespread cessation of hunting. whales in the 1960s.

“If the competition is fierce, the last thing a male wants to do is announce that there is a female in the area, because that might attract other males who might be competing with the singer for the female,” explains Dr. Dunlop.

“By moving to loopless behavior, males are less likely to attract competition and more likely to stay with a female. If other males find them, they either compete or leave. humpback whales, physical aggression tends to manifest itself in the form of lunges and blows to the head. This comes with a risk of injury, so men must weigh the costs and benefits of each tactic,” he explains.

Dr. Dunlop said that males are less likely to sing in the presence of other males. “Singing was the dominant mating tactic in 1997, but that has changed in seven years,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see how whale mating behavior will shape in the future.”

Co-author Associate Professor Celine Frere said previous work by UQ professor Michael Noad had shown that the population whales it grew from about 3,700 whales to 27,000 between 1997 and 2015.

“We used this rich dataset collected off Peregian Beach in Queensland to study how this large change in whale social dynamics could lead to changes in their mating behavior,” said Dr. Frere.

We tested the hypothesis that whales they may be less likely to use singing as a mating tactic when the population is larger, so as not to attract other males to their potential mate.”

The study was published in the journal Communications Biology.

We recommend METADATA, the RPP technology podcast. News, analytics, reviews, recommendations and everything you need to know about the world of technology.