Dear MARMAN community, My co-authors and I are pleased to share with you our new publication on humpback whale song evolution across two decades in the Cook Islands, which is now published in *Animal Behaviour*. The paper is free to access at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123699
*Abstract:* Oceania in the South Pacific contains a metapopulation of humpback whales, *Megaptera novaeangliae*, with several connected breeding grounds. Male humpback whales sing complex socially learned songs that are socially transmitted between breeding grounds within Oceania. We investigated fine-scale song evolution observed on a migratory corridor within Oceania: the Cook Islands. This corridor connects different breeding grounds within Oceania, and the song recorded each season reflects the migratory streams of whales using the corridor, as well as wider metapopulation connectivity. We identified 16 different song types sung from 1998 to 2018, including at least nine ‘revolutionary’ song types (i.e. new song types introduced from neighbouring populations that replaced current song types). All but one song type (off-white, 2012) matched previously identified song types in the New Caledonia breeding ground. In three seasons (2014, 2015, 2016) multiple song types were recorded within a season, indicating either multiple migratory streams or a shift away from the standard one population-wide song per season. Song complexity oscillated over time but did not reflect the traditional patterns observed in nonmigratory locations. The Cook Islands' migratory corridor represents an important location for singing behaviour, highlighting the importance for protection of such spaces for migratory species and the conservation of complex animal cultures as the metapopulation increases in abundance. Full reference: Brown, A. S., Constantine, R., Hauser, N., & Garland, E. C. (2026). Two decades of song evolution and revolution on a humpback whale migratory corridor. *Animal Behaviour, 240*, 123699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123699 Best wishes, Athena Brown
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