The scientists are learning to speak whale
10 نيسان 2024 13:20
In a world-first, scientists had a "conversation" with a whale. Now, researchers are trying to find out what they are actually saying.
A growling "throp" noise emanates from the research vessel's underwater speaker. A humpback breaks away from its group and approaches. The mammal circles the boat. It surfaces and then dives again, tail slipping noiselessly into the water, and echoes the call back.
Researchers who "conversed" with a humpback whale say their encounter could be the first step towards communication with non-human intelligence. It was in 2021, off the coast of south-east Alaska, that the team of six scientists played a recording of a humpback greeting call using an underwater speaker. They were stunned when one humpback whale they had named Twain responded in a conversational manner.
"It's like experiencing another world. You hear them come up to the surface. Then there's this big breath, you can see it, and they're all together as a group. It's just incredible," says Josie Hubbard, an animal behaviourist currently studying for her PhD at the University of California, Davis.
Hubbard was on the research vessel which was floating, all engines silenced, in Frederick Sound, Alaska, when she encountered humpback whales for the first time. "As per regulations, you have to stop a couple of hundred metres away [from the whales] and turn your engine off," says Hubbard. Rarely, she says, the whales may approach. In this instance, 38-year-old Twain did move towards the boat, and proceeded to circle the vessel for 20 minutes.
Hubbard is part of a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) research team, hoping to understand the communicative complexity and intelligence of humpback whales. Up on the top deck, Hubbard was oblivious to the work of the acousticians going on beneath the surface. Below deck, Brenda McCowan was broadcasting a recorded humpback contact call – a "whup" or "throp" – through an underwater speaker. When Twain finally moved away, Hubbard ran downstairs to find a hubbub of excitement. Twain had "spoken" back, engaging in a "conversation" that lasted a full 20 minutes.
Whales have enchanted humans for centuries. In fact, whales display a long list of behaviours similar to humans. They cooperate with one another, as well as other species. They teach each other useful skills, look after each other's young, and play.
However, unlike humans, the dominant sense in whales is not sight, but hearing. Sink 200m (660ft) below the ocean surface, and you'll travel beyond the reach of light. Sound, on the other hand, can move farther and faster in water than it does in the air.
A growling "throp" noise emanates from the research vessel's underwater speaker. A humpback breaks away from its group and approaches. The mammal circles the boat. It surfaces and then dives again, tail slipping noiselessly into the water, and echoes the call back.
Researchers who "conversed" with a humpback whale say their encounter could be the first step towards communication with non-human intelligence. It was in 2021, off the coast of south-east Alaska, that the team of six scientists played a recording of a humpback greeting call using an underwater speaker. They were stunned when one humpback whale they had named Twain responded in a conversational manner.
"It's like experiencing another world. You hear them come up to the surface. Then there's this big breath, you can see it, and they're all together as a group. It's just incredible," says Josie Hubbard, an animal behaviourist currently studying for her PhD at the University of California, Davis.
Hubbard was on the research vessel which was floating, all engines silenced, in Frederick Sound, Alaska, when she encountered humpback whales for the first time. "As per regulations, you have to stop a couple of hundred metres away [from the whales] and turn your engine off," says Hubbard. Rarely, she says, the whales may approach. In this instance, 38-year-old Twain did move towards the boat, and proceeded to circle the vessel for 20 minutes.
Hubbard is part of a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) research team, hoping to understand the communicative complexity and intelligence of humpback whales. Up on the top deck, Hubbard was oblivious to the work of the acousticians going on beneath the surface. Below deck, Brenda McCowan was broadcasting a recorded humpback contact call – a "whup" or "throp" – through an underwater speaker. When Twain finally moved away, Hubbard ran downstairs to find a hubbub of excitement. Twain had "spoken" back, engaging in a "conversation" that lasted a full 20 minutes.
Whales have enchanted humans for centuries. In fact, whales display a long list of behaviours similar to humans. They cooperate with one another, as well as other species. They teach each other useful skills, look after each other's young, and play.
However, unlike humans, the dominant sense in whales is not sight, but hearing. Sink 200m (660ft) below the ocean surface, and you'll travel beyond the reach of light. Sound, on the other hand, can move farther and faster in water than it does in the air.