In 2024, scientists discovered a crucial piece in the puzzle as to how it is some whale species are able to sing so spectacularly. They discovered singing whales have a special larynx that creates sound with the movement of air, sort of like our vocal cords, but in a way seen nowhere else in the animal kingdom. 

Only thing is, if you’re singing out in the deep blue sea, how do you belt out your tunes while holding your breath? A team of researchers were able to obtain rare whale tissues to find out.

How do whales sing without drowning?

The team behind the 2024 study were able to use real larynxes from humpback, minke, and sei whales to investigate how they produce noise by using – for all the technology available in the world – a bunch of party balloons. Puffing air into the organs revealed a unique way of making sound not seen in any other animal, as rather than the vocal cords rubbing together to make noise, they rub against a fat cushion at the back of the larynx.

The complexity of noises they make may come down to the vocal cords rubbing together at the same time as rubbing against the fat cushion, but without being able to observe it in action, it’s hard to know for certain. What we do know is that each of the studied whales make very different songs using the same setup. The larynx also blocks off the airway, meaning the whales are singing at the same time as holding their breath. Give it a try now, and you’ll see it’s not so easy for a human.

A remarkable feat, then, for a mammal whose ancestors crawled from the land back into the ocean around 50 million years ago, but it’s not one that’s shared by all whales. In fact, while all whales vocalize, only a handful of whale species sing.

Do all whales sing?

Humpback whales are perhaps the most famous singers of the sea, having landed their own record Songs Of The Humpback Whale back in 1970 that’s become the bestselling nature recording of all time. They’re joined in the oceanic chorus line by other baleen whales like minke, some blue and fin whales, and the most distantly related bowhead whales, explains BBC Science Focus. However, even among these animals there’s a key divide between the entertainers and the entertained.

Only male whales sing as part of an elaborate courtship display to prove their worth to potential mates. Other ways to woo a whale can include physical competition, where males charge at speed all in a row in what’s been called “the largest mating dance on Earth“. They may also breach and, of course, produce their complex songs.

That’s not to say the females are mute, however, and baby whales give them an earful when they want some milk.