Sound Clips of a Different Sort

Every time I go to the library I end up bringing home much more than I went in for (and that's not counting the delights of the ongoing book sale!) For instance, the last time I went in, I think it was just to pay my overdue fines (again), and I somehow ended up with one of those nature books that is heavy on photographs with just enough written about them to pique your interest. Somewhere between the beginning and the end, there was a short bit about humpback whales and their songs. I haven't been able to find too much more on the subject, but here are a couple of webpages with sound clips of the same. . .can't say I would be jumping up and down to listen to 'em all day, in a strictly musical sense, but it is interesting:

• The Discovery Channel: The humpback is only one of many strange underwater noises here.
• Discovery of Sound in the Sea: A very interesting page from the University of Rhode Island. . .seems the sea is a very noisy place.

The main thing which struck me about the humpbacks' songs, as you can read here, is that they have a discernable structure, and can be broken down into phrases. Different pods of whales have different variations on the song, and even among those pods, the song changes over time.