Songs That Spread

A humpback song is not fixed. It changes a little each week, and the changes ripple outward until every singing male in the region has adopted the new version. It behaves less like instinct and more like a shared tradition.

Now and then a brand-new song arrives from a neighboring ocean population and sweeps through completely, replacing the old one in a single season. Researchers call these rapid takeovers song revolutions — one of the clearest examples of culture spreading among animals.