Scientist share world’s first ‘conversation’ between humans and whales – and say it’s the first step to understanding aliens
Scientists claim to have had the first one-on-one conversation with a whale.
The team from the SETI Institute and the University of California “talked” to a 38-year-old humpback whale named Twain off the coast of Alaska.
They used an underwater microphone to broadcast whale sounds and “whup/throp” sounds, and received 36 responses that sounded as if Twain was actively involved in a communicative exchange.
AI-powered algorithms analyzed the responses and revealed that Twain may have shared a greeting with the team on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.
While talking to another species has never happened in this way, researchers are using the experience to hopefully one day talk to alien life.
Twain, a 38-year-old female humpback whale (pictured), communicated with researchers 36 times over a 20-minute period. The researchers said it’s possible the communication was a back-and-forth “Hello.”
Researchers hope that interacting with Twain could lead to communication with aliens, because the whale’s language is so complex that it forces researchers to identify what their vocalizations mean
In the absence of aliens, the researchers hope to use whales to develop strategies for non-human communication.
Humpback whales are such a good alien proxy because of their extremely high intelligence and ability to communicate.
“Humpback whales are socially very complex,” said lead study author Brenda McCowan UC Davis.
‘They cover great distances. They have an enormous vocal repertoire. I always say that every sound ever made in the natural world the humpback whale makes. It’s incredible how much diversity of sounds they produce.’
The team found Twain with a capsule in the Pacific Ocean and decided this was the best place to deploy the underwater microphones.
Twain had left the capsule and joined the team by boat, allowing researchers to capture the first one-on-one conversation with a whale – along with the group’s chatter as they hunted for their next meal.
Twain was part of a pod (pictured) that the researchers initially recorded to use their own sounds to elicit a response. The next day, Twain separated from the pod as the researchers played their sounds on an underwater speaker
Whale pods swim in circles to catch their prey, and researchers are trying to understand how they communicate during this process
Although some of the sounds the whales made could be socializing sounds, the researchers think they may be giving commands, such as telling each other to go up or down.
For example, the team suggested that the whales might tell each other to “blow the net deeper” or even say “idiot” as an emotional response.
The team told UC Davis that when they first dropped the underwater microphones, they heard nothing, but weren’t concerned because the whales had traveled thousands of miles from Hawaii and were feeding.
They searched until they found a group talking to each other and tried again to record what they were saying.
The next day, the researchers dropped the speakers and recorders into the water and played the recording of the sounds when a whale surfaced near the boat.
Dr. Brenda McCowan (left) and Dr. Fred Sharpe played a pre-recorded greeting in the water as Twain approached their research vessel
It took three tries for Twain to respond to the call, and each time after that the response became stronger and McCowan tried to match the pitch of the whale’s responses, which then adjusted its latency to match the recording.
Researchers created the underwater communications technology by using advanced hydrophones β an underwater recording device β and AI algorithms that record and analyze the sounds the whales make.
The AI ββis trained on data from whale sounds and human language and looks for patterns and language structures.
Twain’s continued reaction to the recording could have been a result of the recording the day before, according to researchers who said it appeared the whale was part of that pod.
“It’s entirely possible that this particular call was very salient to her because sheβ¦ it was a group member of hers that produced the call, or perhaps even her own call,” McCowan told UC Davis, adding: ” We just don’t know.
‘But this was a call that she would have been familiar with in some way. And maybe that’s why she responded so immediately and stayed with us for 20 minutes.
In the research paperthe team suggested that Twain’s response was motivated by “excitement and possibly the onset of agitation.”
When the researchers encountered the capsule in Alaska, Twain began circling the boat while the researchers played recorded humpback whale sounds.
The six researchers working for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) sought to understand humpback whales’ communication, hoping it could help when they make contact with aliens.
“Due to the current limitations of technology, a key assumption in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrials will be interested in making contact and thus target human recipients,” said Dr. Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute and co -author of the article.
“This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales,” she added.
“To our knowledge, this is probably the most extensive acoustic exchange reported to date with a baleen whale,” Fred Sharpe, a co-author of the paper, told UC Davis.
‘And the way that happened and the fact that the animal hung around for so long and temporarily communicated with us. It opens the door for further dynamic playbacks.β