Whales have trendy tunes too!

Believe it or not, male whales have trendy tunes alike humans - in fact, they modify their songs to differ from their rivals during courtship, that results in the new tunes every year, a new study says.

Believe it or not, male whales have trendy tunes alike humans - in fact, they modify their songs to differ from their rivals during courtship, that results in the new tunes every year, a new study says.

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Researchers, led by the University of Queensland, have found that male humpback whales "change their tune" every year during their migration across the Pacific, the Current Biology journal reported.

The study has revealed a striking pattern of cultural change over a large distance, with the rate, scale and even repetition unmatched in non-human culture.

The researchers said 11 different humpback whale song types were identified, which typically started in the eastern Australian population and spread in a step-wise fashion across the region to French Polynesia.

"We noticed that the songs moved quite rapidly through the six populations, usually taking two years ... This can compare to the game of Chinese whispers, except the song appears to be transmitted with little changes unlike a human sentence...," lead researcher Ellen Garland said.