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Humpback Behavior and Sounds Project

Cetos seeks to better understand the behavior and ecology of marine mammals so that informed management decisions can be made. To this end, we have been conducting an ongoing study of humpback whale behavioral ecology. This includes a focus on mother/calf behaviors and vocalizations. Findings from this study have provided important information to resource managers about the needs of these animals at a crucial time in their development. You can read more about the specifics of this study; See "Study Goals" and "Study Findings".

We presented findings from this work at the recent 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals given by the Society of Marine Mammalogy. You can see a PDF of that presentation at the Cetos Literature link on our home page.

You can see a PDF of that presentation at the Cetos Literature link on our home page, just click on the link entitle: Can you hear me now? Sounds and underwater behaviors of Hawaiian humpback whale calves.

Most previous research on humpback whale sounds has focused on their well known song. We have studied humpback song but also study the social vocalizations of this species as they have not been thoroughly investigated. We have been studying social calls for many years, using various acoustic techniques. To hear a sample of these sounds, go to our Sounds page.