Seal Singers

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star” might not seem like an especially romantic song. Apparently, though, it works for male leopard seals. During the mating season, East Antarctic leopard seals sing underwater for hours on end. The songs resemble the structure of children’s nursery rhymes.

Leopard seals are named for the leopard-like spots on their coats. An adult male weighs about 700 pounds. Much of a seal’s diet consists of organisms known as krill. But they also eat penguins, fish, squid, and even the pups of other seal species.

The seals mate during the southern-hemisphere spring and summer. But the animals are widely spread, so finding a partner isn’t easy. And that’s where the songs come in.

The songs are made of five patterns—like five musical notes. Every seal puts those notes together in his own way. So every male seal has a unique tune. During mating season, they belt out that tune for up to 13 hours a day. They sing for several minutes, pop to the surface for a breath, then head down for another verse.

Scientists in Australia have been listening to seals in Antarctica since the 1990s. In a recent study, they compared the structure of the songs to several types of human music. The best match was to children’s songs based on nursery rhymes. They’re simple, repetitive, and easy to remember.

Under water, the tunes can carry a long way. So a seal may attract a distant mate by constantly crooning his own lullaby.

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