New research suggests that talking to humpback whales could help us learn how to communicate with aliens. Scientists from the SETI Institute, University of California Davis, and the Alaska Whale Foundation have been conversing with a humpback whale named Twain.
They used an underwater speaker to play a humpback “contact” call and recorded Twain’s response. Moreover, Twain matched the time gaps between the signals in the playback calls for about twenty minutes.
Brenda McCowan, the lead author of the study from U.C. Davis, stated, “We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback ‘language.'”
Humpback whale communication systems
Similar to how astronaut teams practice missions to Mars or the moon on Earth, the Whale-SETI team is examining how humpback whales communicate to improve our ability to recognize and understand signals from outer space.
The team aims to use their discoveries to create filters that can be used for any signals from outer space, according to researchers.
Scientists claim they've had a 20 minute conversation with a WHALE – and say it could pave the way for conversations with aliens someday
Scientists have had a conversation with a 38yrs old whale named Twain
This research could be used to develop tools to communicate with aliens pic.twitter.com/AMvAIIUhXE— MassiVeMaC (@SchengenStory) December 18, 2023
Laurance Doyle, a coauthor of the study from the SETI Institute, mentioned, “Because of current limitations on technology, an important assumption of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrials will be interested in making contact and so target human receivers.”
Moreover, she added, “This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales.”
Twain mimics a human-like conversational style
Twain’s reaction to every playback call reveals an impressive level of understanding and interaction. When the team played the contact call through an underwater speaker, the humpback whale approached and circled the boat.
The ability to match the time gaps between each call suggests a conversational style similar to humans, as stated in the study.
The authors stated in the study, “While our results certainly indicate the importance of dynamical control over the temporal element in a playback, a major limitation in our playback study was the inability to modify anything other than the timing of the playback. This limitation may have either frustrated or disinterested the whale over the course of the three phases as indicated by her surface behavior.”
Fred Sharpe, a co-author of the study from the Alaska Whale Foundation, mentioned, “Humpback whales are extremely intelligent, have complex social systems, make tools—nets out of bubbles to catch fish—and communicate extensively with both songs and social calls.”
Collaborating with humpback whales provides a special chance to explore how smart communication works in non-human or alien species. The team plans to use information theory principles to create filters that can help analyze signals from outer space and in the quest for intelligent life beyond Earth, according to Live Science.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
