Adam began studying humpback whales at the University of Hawaii in 1984. While he played back humpback sounds in the water where they swam, he watched and listened to the whales’ reactions. Those and later observations led him to a theory about humpback song. “My interpretation,” he says, “is that males are singing to advertise their location and condition.” Some land animals also advertise their claim to a territory. In the ocean, Adam believes, whales use song to keep other singers away and perhaps attract females.
Here in Kaikoura, Adam has shifted to sperm whales and is monitoring their dives. “What we are trying to do here,” he says, “is acoustically establish what the dive profiles are.” Plotting the click-click-click sounds made by a whale, he studies depth versus time to get a profile of the dive. “Acoustics,” he continues, “could map out the path of a sperm whale. That could help answer questions: How deep are the animals diving? How are they spending their time?” Later, submersibles could be targeted to search for giant squid at those depths. |
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