Human musicians must practise for thousands of hours to perfect their performance skills, and the same may be true for humpback whales.

It is widely believed that male humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) sing to attract mates, but zoologists have recently come to realise that they also sing at high-latitude feeding grounds, months before they migrate to the low-latitude breeding grounds where they pair up with a mate.

“We’re drowning in song,” says Erin Wall at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, a non-profit group based in…