Roger Payne, conservationist and popularizer of whale song, dies aged 88

Payne is credited for helping save whales from extinction by recording their songs and galvanizing a global movement

Roger Payne, the US scientist who spurred a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing, has died. He was 88.

Payne made the discovery in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda when a navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented while listening for Russian submarines. Payne identified the haunting tones as songs whales sing to one another.