For the first time… Scientists communicate with a whale in its ‘native language’
In an unprecedented event, scientists have successfully engaged in a conversation with a “humpback whale” using its specific language.
This achievement paves the way for a better understanding of communication between humans and extraterrestrial beings, as scientists from the University of California, Davis, collaborated with the Alaska Whale Foundation and the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) to explore whale communication.
In the context of this historic experiment, the team boarded a boat off the coast of Alaska and conducted what is known as a “call-out” in the ocean to survey the reactions of the whales.
These calls are akin to human greetings, where whales use them to summon each other or communicate their presence.
Brenda McCowan, a professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, spoke about the use of these calls by whales, explaining that they are used to attract the attention of other whales or to communicate their location.
Fred Sharpe, the lead researcher at the Alaska Whale Foundation, added that this type of communication is among the common signals in humpback whale communication. During the experiment, a whale named “Twain” approached the boat and circled around it. Over the next 20 minutes, scientists repeated the call 36 times at different time intervals, and Twain responded each time.
These repeated interactions indicated intentional participation on the part of the whale.
Brenda McCowan clarified that communication with whales occurs through temporal matching, meaning if researchers waited for 10 seconds before making the next call, Twain would wait the same period before responding. This type of interaction suggests intentional exchange between the two parties.
In an official statement, McCowan confirmed that this interaction is the first of its kind between humans and humpback whales using their specific language.
The calls recorded by researchers came from a small group of whales, including Twain, indicating that the interactions were enlightened responses from Twain.
In the context of the search for extraterrestrial life, Lawrence Doyle, the lead researcher at the SETI Institute, mentioned that Twain’s behavior could be similar to the way intelligent extraterrestrial beings think.
