you absolutely know vocal fly when you hear itfrom Britney Spears chart-topping 90s hits baby one more timeto Kim Kardashian’s instantly recognizable narration, this low, twangy way of speaking and singing is almost ubiquitous in pop culture.
It is also found in the deepest depths of the ocean.a A study published March 2 in the journal chemistry i found that Toothed whale has evolved an air-driven nasal sound source that operates in different vocal ranges.
[Related: Noise pollution messes with beluga whales’ travel plans.]
Similar to humans, toothed whales (e.g. sperm whales, killer whales, beluga whales) have at least three vocal rangeThe vocal fly register produces the lowest tones, the chest register produces normal speech, and the falsetto register produces higher frequencies.
Coen Elemans, a speech scientist at the University of Southern Denmark and study co-author, said: in a statement.
Some toothed whales can dive to depths of over 6,000 feet to catch fish.While hunting in these deep, murky waters, they use short, powerful ultrasound waves echolocation Click to find, track and catch prey. It can generate up to 700 clicks per second and uses sound like sonar to locate objects.
When whales go deeper than 3,000 feet, their lungs deflate to avoid compression sickness. The rest of the air is held in the nasal cavity inside the skull, providing a small but sufficient space for the whale to make echolocating sounds.
During echolocation, they pressurize air in their nose and force it through a structure called a phonic lip. These lips vibrate much like the human vocal cords, and their acceleration creates sound waves that travel through the skull to the front of the head. In addition to echolocation, toothed whales produce a wide variety of sounds for complex social communication.
[Related: A baby orca sparks a glimmer of hope for an endangered group of whales.]
“And this air conservation makes it particularly ideal for echolocation. During deep dives, all the air is compressed into a small fraction of the surface volume,” says a whale biologist at Denmark’s Aarhus University. says co-author Peter Madsen. said in a statement“Thus, vocal juveniles give whales access to the most abundant food niche on earth: the deep sea.”
Scientists used to believe that toothed whales, like other mammals, use their larynxes to make sounds, but in the late 1980s it was discovered that toothed whales actually make sounds. make sounds with one’s noseFor this study, the team used Endoscope Toothed whales evolved to see what’s going on inside their noses Air-powered sound production system on their nose. The technology used in this study took almost ten years to develop. Phonic Lips vibrated.
“Vocal fly controversial in humans It can be perceived as anything from annoying to authoritative, but there is no doubt that it has made toothed whales an evolutionary success story. ” elemans said.
