In order to understand the anatomy of this type of whale, it is important to know that they do not have teeth, but rather a type of plates, or fins. As the BBC says, this is where the sound comes from. That said, the question remains: how did scientists manage to obtain such information from such an imposing animal?
The larynx has a “U” shape with a fatty plate at the top
Illustrative Image (via Pexels)
To find out, they removed three larynxes from stranded whales, so they could test their sound effects. Through analysis, scientists were able to detect a kind of “U” shape with a fatty plate at the top of the larynx. What does this mean in practice? Basically, it means that this type of whale has the ability to sing, without water being inhaled and always recycling the air (via BBC).
A curious aspect, as previously mentioned, concerns the relationship between the sounds that the whale emits and the sounds that human beings make, through ships, for example. Whales have a very specific sound frequency, which allows them to communicate with other whales over long distances. However, the noise from ships can interfere with these interactions and even put the continuity of the species at risk.
Whales use song to communicate over long distances
To survive, whales have to communicate over long distances, through song, so, as Dr. Kate Stafford, from Oregon State University, tells the BBC, this is the most important sense of the animal in question. She also adds that understanding their sound emissions is very useful for scientific advances on this type of mammal.