Evolutionary novelties underlie sound production in baleen whales. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38383781/)

These scientists wanted to understand how baleen whales, like humpback whales and blue whales, make their sounds underwater. They knew that these whales use sounds to talk to each other and find mates in the big ocean where it's hard to see. The scientists did experiments on the voice box, called the larynx, of three different baleen whale species. They also looked closely at the anatomy of the whales and used computer models to study how the sounds are made.

What they discovered was really cool! They found out that baleen whales have special structures in their larynx that help them make their deep, low-frequency calls. These structures are different from toothed whales, like dolphins, which use their nasal organs to make sounds. The scientists think that the way baleen whales make sounds is similar to how humans and birds do it.

However, the scientists also found that these special structures in baleen whales have limits. The whales can't make sounds at really high frequencies or communicate well in noisy environments, like when there are big ships around. This means that baleen whales might have trouble talking to each other over long distances or in loud places underwater.

Elemans CPH., Jiang W., Jensen MH., Pichler H., Mussman BR., Nattestad J., Wahlberg M., Zheng X., Xue Q., Fitch WT. Evolutionary novelties underlie sound production in baleen whales. Nature. 2024 Feb 21. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07080-1.