Roger Paynethe scientist who sparked a global environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing, he has died at the age of 88.
Payne made the discovery in 1967 during a fact-finding trip to Bermuda where a Navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds Captured while listening to Russian submarines. Payne identified the haunting tones like songs that Whales Are exchanged.
He saw the discovery of whale song as a chance to stimulate interest in save the giant animals, which were in danger of extinction. Payne produced the album “Songs of the Humpback Whale” en 1970.
To everyone’s surprise, the album galvanized a global movement to end the practice of commercial whaling and save them from extinction.
Payne knew from the beginning that the song of the whales represented an opportunity for the public to would be interested in protecting an animal previously considered little more than an expedient, curiosity, or annoyance.