Cognitive control of song production by humpback whales

Comment on: "Variability in humpback whale songs reveals how individuals can be distinctive when sharing a complex vocal display" [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 153, 2238-2250 (2023)]

Lamoni, Garland, Allen, Coxon, Noad, and Rendell [(2023). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 153, 2238-2250] analyzed variations in humpback whale song structure to assess how individual singers can produce distinctive patterns that communicate desirable individual qualities to potential mates. Their analyses revealed that singers rarely produced individually specific sound patterns and that singers varied subjectively distinctive structural features of songs differently across years. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date that singing humpback whales are not varying song structure in ways that reliably reveal individual singers' physical or cognitive characteristics. Surprisingly, the authors appear to reach the opposite conclusion. Objective strategies for quantitatively comparing song properties are crucial for evaluating competing hypotheses regarding the nature and function of humpback whale songs, but the value of such strategies is reduced when the objectivity of the analyses is suspect and when negative evidence is framed as supporting prior beliefs.

"Cognition in marine mammals: the strength of flexibility in adapting to marine life"

In this theme issue, our multidisciplinary contributors highlight the cognitive adaptations of marine mammals. The cognitive processes of this group are highly informative regarding how animals cope with specifics of and changes in the environment, because, not only did modern marine mammals evolve from numerous, non-related terrestrial animals to adapt to an aquatic lifestyle, but some of these species regularly move between two worlds, land and sea. Here, we bring together scientists from different fields and take the reader on a journey that begins with the ways in which modern marine mammals (whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions and manatees) utilize their perceptual systems, next moves into studies of the constraints and power of individuals' cognitive flexibility, and finally showcases how those systems are deployed in social and communicative contexts. Considering the cognitive processes of the different marine mammals in one issue from varying perspectives will help us understand the strength of cognitive flexibility in changing environments-in marine mammals and beyond.