Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
The earliest preserved whale songs have been hiding on Cape Cod for nearly eight decades!! A 1949 recording of a humpbackwhale, captured near Bermuda during acoustic experiments aboard the original R/V Atlantis, was recently discovered in the WHOI archives, where it resurfaced during a digitization project of audograph discs containing previously unknown content.
The find opens a rare acoustic window into how whale communication and noise in marine environments have changed over time.
Learn more in the WHOI Press Room: https://go.whoi.edu/pr-1949
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The earliest preserved whale songs have been hiding on Cape Cod for nearly eight decades!! A 1949 recording of a humpbackwhale, captured near Bermuda during acoustic experiments aboard the original R/V Atlantis, was recently discovered in the WHOI archives, where it resurfaced during a digitization project of audograph discs containing previously unknown content.
The find opens a rare acoustic window into how whale communication and noise in marine environments have changed over time.
Learn more in the WHOI Press Room: https://go.whoi.edu/pr-1949
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution










