01746nas a2200121   4500008004100000245013300041210006900174520120600243653005701449100002701506700002501533856006601558       2004                        eng d00aAcoustic monitoring on a humpback whale ( <i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>) feeding ground shows continual singing into late spring0 aAcoustic monitoring on a humpback whale iMegaptera novaeangliaei3 a<p>Singing by males is a major feature of the mating system of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski). Although a few songs have been opportunistically recorded on the whales&#39; high&ndash;latitude feeding grounds, singing in these regions was thought to be only sporadic. We report results from the first continuous acoustic monitoring of a humpback whale feeding ground (off Cape Cod, MA, USA) in spring. Using autonomous sea&ndash;floor recording systems, we found singing on a daily basis over the entire 25 day monitoring period, from 14 May to 7 June 2000. For much of the period, song was recorded 24 h per day. These results, combined with evidence for aseasonal conceptions in whaling catch data, suggest that the humpback whale breeding season should no longer be considered as confined to lower&ndash;latitude regions in winter. Rather, we suggest breeding extends geographically and temporally onto feeding grounds into at least spring and early summer. Singing at these times represents either low&ndash;cost opportunistic advertising by (perhaps relatively few) males to court females that failed to conceive during the winter, and/or possibly an intrasexual display.</p>
10ahumpback whale; song; mating systems; North Atlantic1 aClark, Christopher, W.1 aClapham, Phillip, J.  uhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2004.2699