In the article, the author stresses three reasons that represent humpback whales make

migrations of long distances navigating by the stars. However, in the listening, the professor
considers none of the supporting points convincing.

First, humpback whales seem to be intelligent enough to use stars to navigate by. Whales’ brains
have a high degree of complexity. This suggests that the whales’ brain power far exceeds that of
most other animals. The whales’ well-developed cognitive ability seems to provide a sound basis
for the ability to use a complex, abstract system of sensory stimuli such as the night sky for
orientation. However, in the lecture, the professor denies this idea by saying that there is no real
connection between intelligence and the ability to use stars to navigate. Other animals, take
ducks for example, with an average cognitive ability also evolve to use the stars to navigate. It is
more likely to be an instinct that animals are born with instead of a sign of high intelligence. So
the two factors of humpback whales are not connective.

Second, according to the passage, humpback whales migrate in straight lines. Animals can
maintain movement in a straight direction for long distances only if they orient themselves by
some external objects or forces. Many birds and other terrestrial creatures use physical
landmarks to help them stay on track as they migrate. Whales, which swim in the open ocean,
cannot rely on land features; they could, however, rely on stars at night to provide them with
external signs by which to maintain direction over long distances. Nevertheless, in the listening,
the professor points out that there are other explanations for the phenomenon. It is true that
humpback whales travel in straight because of external objects or forces, but they are doing so
not because of the stars but because of the earth magnetic field. There is a substance in animals’
brains called biomagnetite which can make animals sentitive to the earth magnetic field. And as
animals with biomagnetite in brain, humpback whales are lead by earth megnetic field instead of
the stars.

Third, in the writing, humpback whales exhibit an unusual behavior: they are sometimes
observed floating straight up for minutesa at a time, their heads above the water as though they
were looking upward. The behavior is known as spy-hopping, and it is very rare among marine
animals. One explanation for the function of spy-hopping is that the whales are looking at the
stars, which are providing them with information to navigate by. On the opposite, the professor
claims that the behavior of spy-hopping has nothing to do with humpback whales’ migration
navigating by the star. Other animals like sharks also spy-hopping but instead of migrating or
looking at stars, they are hunting for food. Moreover, humpback whales also spy-hopping during
the day, when no stars can be seen. Thus, the last point made by the author is a pure speculation.