Wilson,+S

Stanley...This is Mrs. McKee. I am checking out your wiki page. I don't see any research questions! Where are they? Be sure you have your five questions (and answers!) ready for my next check tonight.

Why do whales sing? How doo whales sing? Do they only sing when they are mating? How do different whales' songs differ? How does singing affect the whales how far can you hear the song? do female whales sing?



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Stanley Wilson (20) Introduction Mrs Mckee/Mrs Poole (40) Body English 11, 4.0 (20) Conclusion 11 December 2009 (20) Research Musical Whales Stanley Wilson (20) Introduction Mrs. Mckee/Mrs Poole (40) Body English 11, 4.0 (20) Conclusion 11 December 2009 (20) Research Musical Whales Our class read the Herman Melville’s classic 1851 novel //Moby- Dick//. This novel explains to the reader all about whaling and the whaling industry. After we finished reading the excerpts from the novel, we augmented our study of whales by doing individual research project. There are many things that have fascinated me when it comes to the uncanny, peculiar, and amazing behaviors that the whales demonstrate, from the way the feed, to the way that they beach themselves when in trouble. One specific behavior in particular really caught my interest. I chose to research the whale song. Have you ever wondered about the strange, innocent, but beautiful sounds the whales make? I have also wondered if they only sing when they are mating. Are all whales’ songs the same? If not, how do different whales' songs differ? How do whales sing and how does singing affect the whales? How far can you hear the song? Do female whales sing? My fascination with whales’ production of vocalization led me to research these questions. I went to several websites, and followed up on these questions. The websites I used were livescience.com. and wisegeek.com. The first question I had was how do whales sing? This was particularly interesting to me, being that whales do not have vocal cords. Even scientists today are unaware of the source that creates the whales’ ability to sing. Studying this unknown source continues to get complicated due to the fact that whales do not need to exhale to sing. Scientists believe that whales are able to recycle air within their bodies. The song consists of series of “phrases” that contain moaning, whistling, and clicking sounds. The typical song can last up to thirty minutes ( wisegeek.com  ). My Second question I had was do whales only sing when there are mating? Research says the whales sing for numerous reasons. One reason they sing is to attract female whales, but they also give off echolocation to warn, tell, or advise the other whales of their surroundings. It has been said that whales can maybe tell where they are at by listening to the sound distortion provided by the incoming waves. Another theory added to the mystery of these whales’ songs, is that they may use these peculiar sounds as a way to pass community history on to others year after year. My third question on the topic is do the females sing? There doesn’t seem to be much research that supports the notion that females sing. The theories include only males sing. Males sing to seduce female whales then possibly mate with them, and the females listen and wait to be found. ”They get ‘turned on’ by the songs that are currently in style.” Every male sings the exact same song as the others; this song changes from season to season, and is bi-yearly. No song is the same every two years. In conclusion, I found it very interesting that male whales use song to attract females. If you think about it, human males do the same thing. Men do the same thing, by wearing a certain style of clothes, singing, or doing other things that make attract a female. There are artists that do this also. Artists like Trey Songz, Ne-Yo, Maxwell, etc. writes songs to women. The women, similar to whales, enjoy them. In my opinion, not just whales, all animals are they same in their own way. We all eat, sleep, attempt to attract women, and communicate with other animals.

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