Male humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) from around the globe conquer their mates each year with a catchy new melody that spreads among the "singers" from the Australian shores eastward during the breeding season, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology .
"Our study reveals a cultural shift on a world scale among these mammals," says Ellen Garland, a co-author of the 11-year study. "All the males change their song at the same time for the new version", adds Garland, who assures that it is the first time that a cultural exchange has been demonstrated in the world population of a different species of the human being .
As is often the case with trendy songs, their melodies are not always original, but contain a mixture of previous compositions with certain changes . "It would be like pairing an old Beatles song with U2 ," Garland said. However, "occasionally the whales totally discard the fashionable song and begin to sing a completely new one," adds the researcher.
