Eastern Pacific is an important area for migrating humpback whales

Along the Central American coast there is a unique situation where two populations of humpback whales from both the northern and southern hemispheres appear to breed. It is not clear at present whether these populations are mating with each other. To investigate further, VUB PhD candidate Joëlle De Weerdt wants to record whalesong off Nicaragua. Whalesong is only done by males (also called singers) and can provide information about potential exchanges between populations. Among humpback whales, each population has its own song sung by every male, which can evolve over time. Males can change part of a song if they are close to another male and adopt elements of their song. This may be happening with populations in Nicaragua.