New Whale Studies Reveal Bubble‑Regulated Sleep, Cultural Songs, and Massive Fat Loss During Migration

Researchers from the University of St Andrews (UK) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) have shown that sperm whales control their buoyancy by releasing gas bubbles, allowing them to rest vertically just below the ocean surface. Tags placed on whales off the Norwegian coast recorded the distinctive bubble sounds and confirmed that the behavior offsets the whales' natural positive buoyancy.

Separate studies of humpback whales have documented the species' ability to create and share evolving song patterns across populations. Males modify, adopt, and disseminate new melodic sequences during migrations, a process likened to cultural trends in human music.

A third investigation of southern right whales in the Southern Hemisphere quantified the extreme energy cost of their annual migration. Using drone‑derived body‑condition measurements, scientists found that individual whales lose about 36% of their body fat—roughly 11 000 kg—equivalent to the energy contained in tens of thousands of kilograms of Antarctic krill.