Pygmy blue whales sing less by day while feeding, study finds

Endangered pygmy blue whales off Western Australia appear to sing less when they are feeding, and the pattern is now being put to work. A new Curtin University-led study, published in Royal Society Open Science, found that the whales generally fed during daylight hours, leaving more time available for singing at night. During the animals’ feeding season in Perth Canyon, more song was recorded at night than during the day for periods of up to three months.

The research examined pygmy blue whale singing and feeding behaviour in offshore waters from the Perth Canyon, along Western Australia’s Midwest coast and further north towards Ningaloo and the Northwest Shelf. The observation that song production rose after dark across these areas suggests that listening for differences in whale song between day and night could provide a way to monitor feeding activity across large stretches of ocean without needing to observe the whales directly.

Lead author Andrew Davenport, a PhD candidate at Curtin’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology, drew a simple comparison to explain the pattern. “Just as we can’t talk while we’re eating, pygmy blue whales appear to have less time available to sing while they’re feeding,” he said. “By listening to when they sing more at night than during the day, we can infer when whales in an area are likely to be feeding.”

For an endangered population that ranges over vast and often remote waters, that inference carries practical weight. Listening to the songs of pygmy blue whales could help researchers identify when the animals are feeding off Western Australia’s coast, improving scientists’ ability to monitor their behaviour and inform conservation efforts. Acoustic monitoring of this kind relies on the trade-off the study documented: hours spent feeding on krill are hours not spent singing, so the daily balance between the two activities leaves a detectable signature in passive acoustic records.

The study was an observational one, and its findings are specific to the pygmy blue whales studied in the waters off Western Australia during their feeding season. The researchers note that the relationship between feeding and singing offers a valuable new way to understand the behaviour of this endangered population. The published paper, titled “Pygmy blue whale feeding drives greater nocturnal than diurnal song production”, appears in Royal Society Open Science, with the article dated 28 October 2026.

Subject of Research: The relationship between feeding timing and song production in pygmy blue whales off Western Australia

Article Title: Don't sing with your mouth full – whale song could reveal when whales are feeding

Article References: Don't sing with your mouth full – whale song could reveal when whales are feeding. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: pygmy blue whale, whale song, feeding behaviour, Perth Canyon, Western Australia, acoustic monitoring, Royal Society Open Science, Curtin University, conservation, endangered species, nocturnal song, marine science