Whales are some of the most highly intelligent species on Earth. Each species of whale, from sperm whales to humpback whales to orcas (which are technically dolphins), has a distinct communication system that often varies within populations. Since humans have been researching and observing these forms of communication, a question has surfaced: Could humans one day engage in acoustic interactions with whales? And what could these interactions reveal about non-human intelligence?
Researchers from the Whale-SETI team at the University of California, Davis, and the Alaska Whale Foundation have been exploring whale-to-human communication with humpback whales, and they’ve come up with some fascinating conclusions.
Read More: Sperm Whale Clicks May Be More Complex Than Once Thought, and Similar to Human Language
How Humans Communicate with Whales
When scientists recorded a humpback whale contact call, known as a whup, and played it underwater around their research vessel, they were surprised when a whale named Twain became a more than willing participant in the call-and-response exchange. Scientists produced a single sound, or whup call, that Twain would then respond with her own whup call to them, a "conversation" described in their PeerJ paper.
“It might loosely translate to ‘hello’ or some sort of greeting call for when animals come together or just to signal that individuals are in a certain location,” says Josephine Hubbard, study author and animal behaviorist with Whale SETI.
In this case, it was as if Twain was either saying “hello” to scientists or “I’m over here.” But in both instances, she was responding to and engaging with whale signals that humans produced. Additionally, it’s worth noting that to call it a “conversation” is also interesting because human linguists would have a specific definition of what a conversation actually is, says Hubbard.
Do Whales Want to Communicate with Humans?
Of course, whether whales want to communicate with humans varies by the temperament of the whale and by the situation. Just like some humans are more extroverted than others, this could also be true for whales, although this would need more research to understand.
Twain circled around the scientists’ boat and was in proximity to its speakers. Permit limitations only allow for researchers to produce the sound for 20 minutes, but once they stopped, Twain continued to produce more signals before leaving.
“What’s cool about Twain is that she could have left at any point, as it wasn’t a captive environment where she couldn’t leave, so she was choosing to be close to us,” says Hubbard.
Humpback Bubble Rings and Famously Friendly Gray Whales
Humpback whales also produce “bubble rings,” in many cases in close proximity to boats, in ways that suggest that they’re being playful and that whales are doing it in a relaxed manner.
Another paper published last year by Hubbard and her team in the journal Marine Mammal Science analyzed 39 rings made by 11 individual whales that suggest a playful, communicative side to the whales.
“These new observations show humpback whales producing bubble rings during friendly encounters with humans,” write the study authors.
Often, a willingness to communicate with humans would be food-mediated, but in this case, it wasn’t. There have also been other examples. Gray whales in the San Ignacio lagoon in Mexico, for example, are famously friendly. In fact, some gray whales regularly approach boats and allow visitors to have gentle contact with them.
According to the Oceanic Society, this behavior isn’t shared amongst all gray whales, and in fact, this species of whale was almost hunted to extinction just a generation ago. But the behavior may have been passed down through generations, and some gray whales in this population voluntarily approach humans.
In the end, these and other encounters show that, in some cases, individual whales appear willing to engage with humans. And the more we learn about their mode of communication and what they are saying to us, the more we can learn about them.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a recent study published in PeerJ: Interactive bioacoustic playback as a tool for detecting and exploring nonhuman intelligence: “conversing” with an Alaskan humpback whale
- This article references information from the SETI Institute: Whale-SETI: Groundbreaking Encounter with Humpback Whales Reveals Potential for Non-Human Intelligence Communication
- This article references information from a recent study published in Marine Mammal Science: Humpback Whales Blow Poloidal Vortex Bubble Rings
- This article references information from the Oceanic Society: Gray Whales of Baja California: Close Encounters with Gentle Giants
