Roger Payne
Encyclopedia
Roger Searle Payne is a biologist
and environmentalist
famous for the 1967 discovery (with Scott McVay) of Whale song
among Humpback whales. Payne later became an important figure in the worldwide campaign to end commercial whaling
.
Payne studied at Harvard University
and Cornell. He spent the early years of his career studying echolocation in bat
s (and how their food, moth
s, avoids them) and auditory localization
in owls
. Desiring to work with something more directly linked to conservation he later focused his research on whales where he together with researcher Scott McVay in 1967 were the first to discover the complex sonic arrangements performed by the male humpback whales during the breeding season
.
Payne describes the whale songs as "exuberant, uninterrupted rivers of sound" with long repeated "themes", each song lasting up to 30 minutes and sung by an entire group of male humpbacks at once. The songs would be varied slightly between each breeding season, with a few new phrases added on and a few others dropped.
Payne would also be the first to suggest fin whale
s and blue whale
s can communicate with sound across whole oceans.
Some of Payne's recordings were released in 1970 as an LP
called Songs of the Humpback Whale which helped to gain momentum for the "save the whales" movement seeking to end commercial whaling which at the time was pushing many species dangerously close to extinction
. Commercial whaling was finally banned by the International Whaling Commission
in 1986.
In addition to whale recordings Payne has also published books and worked with film crews on many television
documentary
productions and on the IMAX
movie "Whales".
In 1971 Payne founded Ocean Alliance
, a 501(c)3 organization working with whale and ocean conservation. It is based in Lincoln, Massachusetts
. He still heads the organization. He was also an assistant professor of biology
at Rockefeller University
and, concurrently, a research zoologist at the New York Zoological Institute's Institute for Research in Animal Behavior, both in New York City.
Payne has received a United Nations Environment Programme
Global 500 Award (1988) and a MacArthur genius award (1984) among other awards for his research. He is a Knight
in the Netherlands
Order of the Golden Ark
(1977). He was a co-recipient of the Albert Schweitzer medal, Animal Welfare Institute
(1980). The Humane Society of the U.S
presented him the Joseph Wood Krutch
Medal in 1989. The Lyndhurst Foundation
conferred its Lyndhurst Prize on him (1984). He received Honorary membership of the Society for Marine Mammalogy
(2010).
In 1978, Kate Bush
's debut album 'The Kick Inside
' features a portion of 'slowed-down solo whale' (from Songs of the Humpback Whale) as an intro to the opening track 'Moving
'.
In 2010, the band Glass Wave
included Payne's whale recordings in the first track ("Balena") and last track ("Moby Dick") of their album.
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
and environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
famous for the 1967 discovery (with Scott McVay) of Whale song
Whale song
Whale sounds are the sounds made by whales and which are used for different kinds of communication.The word "song" is used to describe the pattern of regular and predictable sounds made by some species of whales, notably the Humpback Whale...
among Humpback whales. Payne later became an important figure in the worldwide campaign to end commercial whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
.
Payne studied at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Cornell. He spent the early years of his career studying echolocation in bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s (and how their food, moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s, avoids them) and auditory localization
Sound localization
Sound localization refers to a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance. It may also refer to the methods in acoustical engineering to simulate the placement of an auditory cue in a virtual 3D space .The sound localization mechanisms of the...
in owls
OWLS
OWLS is a mnemonic used by general aviation airplane pilots to assess an unprepared surface for a precautionary landing.Like all mnemonics this check has become part of aviation culture and folklore.OWLS:* Obstacles* Wind direction...
. Desiring to work with something more directly linked to conservation he later focused his research on whales where he together with researcher Scott McVay in 1967 were the first to discover the complex sonic arrangements performed by the male humpback whales during the breeding season
Breeding season
The breeding season is the most suitable season, usually with favourable conditions and abundant food and water, for breeding among some wild animals and birds . Species with a breeding season have naturally evolved to have sexual intercourse during a certain time of year in order to achieve the...
.
Payne describes the whale songs as "exuberant, uninterrupted rivers of sound" with long repeated "themes", each song lasting up to 30 minutes and sung by an entire group of male humpbacks at once. The songs would be varied slightly between each breeding season, with a few new phrases added on and a few others dropped.
Payne would also be the first to suggest fin whale
Fin Whale
The fin whale , also called the finback whale, razorback, or common rorqual, is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second longest whale and the sixth largest living animal after the blue whale, bowhead whale, and right whales, growing to nearly 27 metres long...
s and blue whale
Blue Whale
The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At in length and or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed....
s can communicate with sound across whole oceans.
Some of Payne's recordings were released in 1970 as an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
called Songs of the Humpback Whale which helped to gain momentum for the "save the whales" movement seeking to end commercial whaling which at the time was pushing many species dangerously close to extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. Commercial whaling was finally banned by the International Whaling Commission
International Whaling Commission
The International Whaling Commission is an international body set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling , which was signed in Washington, D.C...
in 1986.
In addition to whale recordings Payne has also published books and worked with film crews on many television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
productions and on the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
movie "Whales".
In 1971 Payne founded Ocean Alliance
Ocean alliance
Ocean Alliance, Inc., a 5013 organization, is dedicated to the conservation of whales and their marine environment through research and education. The organization is based in Gloucester, Massachusetts in the United States....
, a 501(c)3 organization working with whale and ocean conservation. It is based in Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...
. He still heads the organization. He was also an assistant professor of biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at Rockefeller University
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
and, concurrently, a research zoologist at the New York Zoological Institute's Institute for Research in Animal Behavior, both in New York City.
Payne has received a United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
Global 500 Award (1988) and a MacArthur genius award (1984) among other awards for his research. He is a Knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Order of the Golden Ark
Order of the Golden Ark
The Most Excellent Order of the Golden Ark was established by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1971 as an order of merit. Although not awarded by, it is recognized by the government of the Netherlands as a legal order. It is awarded to people for major contributions to nature conservation...
(1977). He was a co-recipient of the Albert Schweitzer medal, Animal Welfare Institute
Animal Welfare Institute
The Animal Welfare Institute is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 with the goal of reducing pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans...
(1980). The Humane Society of the U.S
Humane Society
A humane society may be a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons, although in many countries, it is now used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals...
presented him the Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch
Joseph Wood Krutch was an American writer, critic, and naturalist.Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he initially studied at the University of Tennessee and received a masters degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After serving in the army in 1918, he travelled in Europe for a year with friend...
Medal in 1989. The Lyndhurst Foundation
Lyndhurst Foundation
The Lyndhurst Foundation is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based grant-making foundation organized in 1938 as The Memorial Welfare Foundation by Coca-Cola Bottling Company magnate Cartter Lupton...
conferred its Lyndhurst Prize on him (1984). He received Honorary membership of the Society for Marine Mammalogy
Society for Marine Mammalogy
The Society for Marine Mammalogy is the largest international association of marine mammal scientists in the world. Membership of the Society was about 1,000 people as of October 2010....
(2010).
In 1978, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
's debut album 'The Kick Inside
The Kick Inside
-Personnel:*Kate Bush: Piano, Composer, Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals*Ian Bairnson: Guitar, Vocals, Background Vocals, Bottle*Paddy Bush: Harmonica, Mandolin, Vocals*Barry DeSouza: drums*Stuart Elliott: Drums...
' features a portion of 'slowed-down solo whale' (from Songs of the Humpback Whale) as an intro to the opening track 'Moving
Moving (Kate Bush song)
"Moving" is a song written and recorded by Kate Bush. It is the lead-off track on her first studio album The Kick Inside and is a tribute to Bush's mime instructor, Lindsay Kemp....
'.
In 2010, the band Glass Wave
Glass Wave
Glass Wave is a Bay Area cerebral rock band formed in 2008 by Robert Pogue Harrison and Dan Edelstein, both professors of literature at Stanford University. The band was conceived originally as a literary musical collaboration for their team-taught Introduction to the Humanities course entitled...
included Payne's whale recordings in the first track ("Balena") and last track ("Moby Dick") of their album.
Works
- Author: Among Whales, 1995
- Host, In the Company of Whales, 1992 TV documentary
- Host, Finite Oceans, 1995 TV documentary
- Co-Writer/co-director, Whales, 1995 film
- Songs of the Humpback Whale, a 1970 LP