When Lady Gaga releases a catchy¹ new single, it quickly goes around the world. Now scientists have discovered the same thing happens with the songs of another exotic creature – the humpback whale. The mammals become fixated on new tunes² just like people do, and the most popular original whale songs spread globally like hit singles. Number one artist? Humpback whales become fixated on new tunes. The most popular original whale songs spread around the world like hit singles

当“闻名遐迩”的音乐奇才嘎嘎小姐发行自己的又一张新专辑，再一次“轻而易举”地将自己的音乐享誉全球的时候，科学家惊喜地发现同样的音乐天才不仅仅局限于人类这个物种，在海底的鲸鱼也同样有“发行音乐专辑”并“唱歌”的权利。科学家还证实，这一类哺乳动物(座头鲸)可以像人类一样“有音调” “带感情”地唱歌，据悉，座头鲸是鲸类中最大者，成体平均体长雄性为12.9米，雌性为13.7米，体重25～35吨。其前缘具不规则的瘤状突如锯齿状，口大，进食时上下颌间特殊韧带结构可使口张开90度的角度。

The discovery has stunned³ marine⁴ experts who say it is the first time such a large, ‘population wide cultural exchange’ has been seen in the animal kingdom. Male humpback whales are famed for the loud, long and complex songs they make during the mating season. Scientists are unsure why the males sing. Some believe it is a way of advertising⁵ themselves to females, others that it allows migrating whales to stay in contact。

这一发现彻底震惊了很多海洋专家，让他们“大开眼界”，对于鲸鱼发行音乐专辑事宜，他们认为这是在生物物种，不同生物之间最大的一次 “文化交流”活动。雄性座头鲸以“嗓门大”“身型长”“擅长复杂歌曲”闻名于世界。专家称，特别在交配季节的雄性座头鲸们可以更能展现、展示他们的“歌唱才华”。然而，对于鲸鱼为什么会唱歌的原因，科学家至今还未能总结出个什么结论，有一些人是认为这是雄性座头鲸为了吸引雌性座头鲸做出的“雄性荷尔蒙举动”，也有一些人认为这是为了与“迁徙”举家搬迁的“移民鲸鱼”联系感情的一种方式。

Each song lasts for ten to 20 minutes and the males can sing continuously for 24 hours. At any one time, all the males in a population sing the same song. But a study, published in the journal Current Biology, shows that this song changes over time and spreads around the oceans. Dr Ellen Garland, of Queensland University, said: ‘Our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale. Songs move like cultural ripples⁶ from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version.’

据悉，鲸鱼们唱歌课不轻松，一首曲子至少能维持20分钟，而且雄性座头鲸常常能唱歌长达24小时。科学家发现，在任何时间，雄性座头鲸都会“演唱”同一首曲子。在一本期刊《当代生物学》发表的研究上指出，这首座头鲸唱的曲子在全世界通用，在任何海域都能听得到。可谓在鲸鱼界“不分地域”“享誉全球”的曲子。有专家Dr Ellen 说：“我们的研究目的是表明一个道理，那就是文化交流是在任何一个物种之间都存在的。”