How do whales sing? Lab experiments suggest their voice boxes have unique feature [Video]

Whales sing loud enough that their songs travel through the ocean, but knowing the mechanics behind that has been a mystery.Scientists now think they have an idea, and it’s something not seen in other animals: a specialized voice box.Experts say the discovery, while based on a study that is too tiny to be definitive, will direct future research into how whales communicate.In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Coen Elemans of the University of Southern Denmark and colleagues studied the voice boxes, or larynxes, from three dead, stranded whales — a humpback, minke and sei, which are all types of baleen whales.In the laboratory, the scientists blew air through the voice boxes under controlled conditions to see what tissues might vibrate. Researchers also created computer models of the sei whale’s vocalizations and matched them to recordings of similar whales taken in the wild.Whales’ ancestors were land-dwellers about 50 …