Scientists claim they’ve had a 20 minute conversation with a WHALE – and say it could pave the way for conversations with aliens someday

It might look like a scene from Avatar 2.

But scientists claim it is now possible to have a conversation with a whale, after a 20-minute conversation with a humpback whale in southeast Alaska.

A 38-year-old whale named Toyin spoke with researchers from the SETI Institute and UC Davis by responding to a pre-recorded “communication call.”

This represents the first contact between humans and whales in their own language, according to the team.

Looking to the future, researchers say the conversation could pave the way for interactions with aliens in the future.

It may look like something out of Avatar 2 (pictured), but scientists say this research could pave the way for future communications with extraterrestrials.

In the study, researchers from SETI studied how whales communicate in the hopes of developing “intelligence filters” as part of the search for alien life.

The scientists broadcast a type of greeting call called “whup/throp” through underwater speakers.

When the call was played across the water, Twain approached the boat and responded with a greeting call of her own.

More importantly, the scientists found that the tween was changing the frequency of its calls in response to the researchers' broadcasts.

According to lead author, Dr. Brenda McCowan of the University of California, Davis, this identical behavior shows that the whale was engaged in some sort of interactive conversation with the recorded call.

“We believe this is the first communicative exchange of its kind between humans and humpback whales in the humpback 'language,'” Dr. McEwan said.

In their paper, Dr. Brenda and her co-authors suggest that Twain was motivated to respond by “excitement and perhaps the onset of arousal.”

However, they also point out that the type of “behavioral synchronization” that the whale exhibits is related to group bonding and cohesion.

This, according to the authors, indicates that Twain was actively engaged in a communicative exchange.

Dr. Brenda McCowan (left) and Dr. Fred Sharp played a pre-recorded hello call in the water as Twain approached their research vessel

The high intelligence and advanced communication systems of humpback whales make them a good alternative for communicating with alien life (stock image)

The researchers' ultimate goal is not to talk with whales, but with more exotic life forms.

Just as another scientist might look to Antarctica as an alternative to Mars or other alien environments, SETI researchers are looking to Earth to find alternatives to extraterrestrial intelligence.

In the absence of any aliens, researchers hope to use whales to develop non-human communication strategies.

Humpback whales are considered good alien agents because of their extremely high intelligence and ability to communicate.

This diagram shows how Twain approached and circled the research vessel while answering researchers' calls

Their massive brains contain large areas for processing auditory information, and their aquatic environment allows them to broadcast signals over vast distances.

“Humpback whales are highly intelligent, have complex social systems, make tools — bubble nets to catch fish — and communicate extensively with both songs and social calls,” says Dr. Fred Sharp of the Alaska Whale Foundation.

This means that by learning how to find information from whale calls, scientists may one day be able to understand communications from aliens.

“Because of current limitations of technology, an important assumption for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that aliens would be interested in making communications and thus target human receivers,” says Dr. Lawrence Doyle of the SETI Institute.

The SETI Institute uses radar arrays like the Very Large Array Radio Telescope in New Mexico to try to look for communications from extraterrestrials.

“This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales,” he adds.

Previously, the SETI project tried to find extraterrestrial life by listening to radio signals reaching Earth.

The theory is that a highly advanced alien civilization might be interested in communicating with other planets and would therefore send information in high-energy pulses.

This has recently centered on the theory that there may be a pulsating beacon near the center of the Milky Way broadcasting information from aliens.

However, since we have no way of knowing how aliens communicate, the SETI project is focusing on developing tools to search for signs of intelligence within the constant background noise of space.