The humpback whale song is considered one of the most complex songs in the animal world. Its first recording dates back to 1952 and was made by US Navy engineer Frank Watlington. About 20 years later, marine biologist Roger Payne noticed that the calls were organized into repeating patterns. The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) research group now hopes that deciphering communication between whales will help us if we encounter extraterrestrial beings. According to their ideas, the complex and intelligent messages of whale sounds may be similar to languages used by extraterrestrial beings.
Cetaceans have evolved over more than 50 million years to produce a variety of complex sounds, and use their sounds to communicate with each other to navigate, find mates and food, defend their territories and resources, and avoid predators. Groups from different parts of the ocean speak regional dialects.
The long, rhythmic songs of whales, if not suppressed by ship engines, echo across the seas, and the animals use their echoes to communicate with their distant relatives. They look a bit like us, act similarly, cooperate, teach each other, take care of each other and play.
However, unlike humans, hearing is not the dominant sense in whales. No wonder, because when you dive 200 meters below the ocean's surface, only light shines, but sound travels farther and faster. Humpback whales, like blue whales, have a unique larynx that can produce very low-frequency sounds that can be heard over great distances. Blue whales, for example, can emit a frequency of 12.5 Hz, a frequency that is no longer audible to the human ear.
Historical moment
On that particular day in 2021, off the coast of Alaska, many different sounds were already broadcast from the research vessel, but it did not receive an answer – we can read in BBCHowever, when the whale song recorded the day before was played, the whale, which scientists have named Twin, broke away from its group as it swam nearby and began circling the ship. In fact, the recording was in his collection, so the animal may have recognized its own song. As Twain approached the ship, they stopped the engines and played the whale song three times, then began taking breaks between songs. The animal also waited 10 seconds, as did the ethicists. This was repeated 36 times in 20 minutes.
This was the first direct human-whale interaction on the language of the humpback whale.
But as one of the researchers, Brenda McCowan, emphasizes, studying whales presents a major challenge. Now they were lucky because Twain decided to talk to them, but usually they do not know where they swim, and if they are found, it is necessary to repeat the study with more serious results. Reproduction is difficult.
It is also a big challenge for us to classify signs and determine their context to find out the meanings. But I think AI will help with that
McGowan said.
Not only do humpback whales communicate, but another research group is studying sperm whale songs with the help of artificial intelligence, cryptography, linguistics, robotics and marine biologists. CETI (Cetan Translation Initiative) was launched in 2020 and is led by marine biologist David Gruber, whose mission is to continuously record the sounds of a pod of whales off the coast of Dominica.
Perhaps we should listen more and talk less – this is advice that is generally heeded on the ground as well, says Samantha Blackman of the Foundation Director of Marine Data at the National Oceanographic Center He said about observing whale songs.
According to Gruber, amberjack communication is based on intricate and complex structures, but technological advances may now allow them to be decoded.
The collected data was processed and classified using machine learning algorithms, and the results will be published this year. According to Gruber, the goal is to be able to reconstruct conversations the way the other team did with humpback whales previously: get them talking by playing their sounds.
Endangered cetaceans are at the top of the food chain and play a very important role in the ecosystem, because they act as natural fertilisers: their feces are high in iron, which phytoplankton, the aquatic protozoans that perform photosynthesis, desperately need.
(Cover image: Humpback whale. Photo: Getty Images)
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