Katy Payne — In the Presence of Elephants and Whales
On Being with Krista Tippett
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What Is It That Whale Song Is Always Changing?
Many animals make sounds, everything from crickets to humans. These sounds are thought of in relation to reproduction and courtship in humans. And one of the aspects of my work has been to say, look, we don't have to have two languages for this. So something that's written about you is that you dis vered that whale song is always changing. I meant, what is the significance of that? Well, the significance is that whales, like people, are composers. The songs are very complex. They consist of six to eight themes. Each theme has a melodic phrase that repeats over and over again and then changes to the next one. But if you keep listening for
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