Antarctic leopard seals perform unique songs for hours, study finds
Male leopard seals sing songs structured like nursery rhymes. Photo / Jamie Quirk
When male leopard seals dive down into icy Antarctic waters, they sing songs structured like nursery rhymes in performances that can last up to 13 hours, scientists say.
An Australian-led team of researchers compared the complexity of the songs composed by the aquatic mammals to those of other animals – as well as human musicians like the Beatles and Mozart.
Lucinda Chambers, a bioacoustics PhD student at Australia's University of New South Wales, told AFP that people are often surprised when they hear the 'otherworldly' hoots and trills sung by leopard seals.
'It kind of sounds like sound effects from an 80s sci-fi movie,' said the lead author of a new study in the journal Scientific Reports.
During the spring breeding season, male leopard seals dive underwater and perform their songs for two minutes before returning to the surface for air. They then repeat this performance for up to 13 hours a day, according to the study.
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