Whale song mystery solved by scientists 科學傢揭開鯨魚 “歌聲之謎”

科學傢們已經研究出海洋中一些體型最大的鯨魚發出令人難忘的復雜叫聲的方式，它們的叫聲被人們稱為 “鯨歌”。座頭鯨和其它須鯨體內有一種進化而來的特殊的 “音箱”，使它們能夠在水下 “唱歌”。

The humpback’s song sounded so strange and haunting to sailors, they used to think it belonged to ghosts or mythical sea creatures. Now, a study has revealed how the animals produce their complex songs.

座頭鯨的鯨歌聽起來很奇怪，讓水手們難以忘記，他們曾認為這種 “歌聲” 來自鬼魂或神話中的海洋生物。現在，一項研究揭示瞭這些動物唱出復雜 “歌聲” 的原理。

Researchers examined the voice boxes of three dead whales: larynxes that were taken from a stranded minke, humpback and a sei whale. Pumping air into the giant U-shaped structures from the whales’ throats showed how they vibrate to make a sound when air moves across them.

研究人員檢查瞭三頭死鯨體內的 “音箱”，也就是它們的 “喉部”，三頭死鯨分別是一頭因被擱淺而死亡的小鰮鯨、一頭座頭鯨和一頭塞鯨。研究人員向巨大 U 型結構的鯨魚喉嚨中註入空氣，結果發現當空氣流過時，這個U型結構通過振動發聲。

That’s similar to how our vocal folds work, but baleen whales can recycle the air around this specialised vocal anatomy, meaning they can sing while holding their breath without inhaling water.

這些鯨魚的發聲方式與我們聲帶的發聲方式相似，但須鯨可以回收循環利用其體內這種特殊的發聲結構周圍的空氣，這意味著它們可以不吸水而屏住呼吸 “唱歌”。

More analysis showed that the frequency of the whale song overlaps with the noise ships produce, so the sound of human activity in the ocean can interrupt communication that’s essential to these animals’ lives.

進一步的分析表明，鯨歌的頻率與船隻行駛時產生的噪音重疊，因此海洋中人類活動的聲音會幹擾這些鯨魚生活中至關重要的溝通和交流過程。