Signature information in the song of the humpback whale

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Abstract
The hypothesis that individual humpback whales (M. novaeangliae) can be recognized and discriminated from other individuals was tested on the basis of the cry vocalization. Multivariate discriminant analyses, based on 6 measurable variables, were used to examine intra- and interindividual differences in the cries from several individuals. Cries between themes of one song are very different; those between songs of one individual are similar. A high degree of discriminating power between individual animals was shown. Signature information was potentially available from cries within songs, despite common song formats for all calling animals on a given bank. The statistical techniques used will be of great value in animal vocalization studies.

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