Why Whales Sing

Eduardo Mercado

$64.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Woodslane
04 November 2025

Mathematics & Sciences; Marine biology; Wildlife: mammals

Reconceives whale songs as a sophisticated sonar system, revealing incredible insights into these creatures' intelligence and behavior.

With breathtaking complexity and haunting beauty, the songs of whales have long fascinated scientists. Whales are the only mammals that can sing continuously for ten hours or more, changing the unique songs they sing every year. In Why Whales Sing, bioacoustician and cognitive scientist Eduardo Mercado transforms our understanding of these enigmatic sounds and proposes a groundbreaking theory that challenges decades of established science.

Fifty years of field research have led most scientists to conclude that humpback whales sing for the same reason that birds do: to advertise their sexual fitness. But if whale songs are nothing more than tools of attraction, why do whales sing even when they're alone and there are no listeners nearby? In light of modern advances in neuroscience and ocean acoustics, Mercado reaches the surprising conclusion that whales may not actually be ""singing,"" but rather engaging in an activity more commonly associated with dolphins and bats—echolocating—which enables them to see their world with sound. By incessantly streaming sounds while listening closely to the returning echoes, whales may be actively tuning their brains in ways that allow them to monitor the movements of silent whales located miles away.

Sophisticated, long-range sonar can enable whales to perceive their vast underwater worlds in unimaginable ways. From the military origins of whale song recordings to the persistent mysteries of cetacean communication, this book displays the wonder of whales and reshapes how we view their intelligence, behavior, and acoustic mastery.

By: Eduardo Mercado
Imprint: Woodslane
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9781421452890
ISBN 10: 1421452898
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 04 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Table of Contents Prologue 1. Why Whales Sing 2. When Whales Sing 3. Which Whales Sing 4. Where Whales Sing 5. What Whales Sing 6. How Whales Sing 7. Who Hears What 8. For Whom the Whales Toll 9. Within Whales' Heads 10. Will Whales Sing? Acknowledgments Appendix: Essentials of Echolocation Further Reading

Eduardo Mercado III is a professor of psychology at the University of Buffalo, SUNY, and a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow. He is the author of Principles of Cognition: Finding Minds, and coauthor of Learning and Memory: From Brain to Behavior.