Humpback whales remix their old songs

An article in The Atlantic about the songs of humpback whales in Australia, which change dramatically and irreversibly over time, and how the animals learn and tweak their melodies interviews Eduardo Mercado III, professor of psychology, who said it’s not clear from the recordings if the whales are genuinely learning new material, or simply flubbing their lines. “There is no way to really know,” he said, “but I definitely agree that humpback whales are an important species to study in terms of trying to understand vocal learning. We humans are the only terrestrial mammals that do anything remotely similar to singing humpback whales.”

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https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/humpback-whales-remix-old-songs-with-new-ones/534636/