Emily Brown
Scientists from the SETI Institute and the University of California have shared audio from what's believed to be the first-ever conversation between humans and whales.
The scientific feat took place off the coast of south-east Alaska in 2021, when a team of six scientists armed themselves with an underwater speaker and attempted to get the attention of some whales.
The team used the speaker to play a recording of a humpback greeting call, and were stunned when one whale they'd named Twain 'spoke' back - marking the first intentional human-whale interaction in the 'language' of whales.
Advert
Over the course of the next 20 minutes, the whale appeared to engage in a 'conversation' with the scientists, which included 36 responses from the whale.
As humpback whale songs are thought to be among the most complex in the animal kingdom, the SETI (Search for extraterrestrial intelligence) research team are hopeful that deciphering their communications could help us communicate with extra-terrestrials.
If we ever encounter them, that is.
Lead research author Brenda McCowan told BBC Future: "After playing the contact call three times, we got this huge response. Then, to keep the animal engaged, I started trying to match the latency of her calls to our calls.
Advert
"So, if she waited 10 seconds, I waited 10 seconds. We ended up matching each other. We did this 36 times over a 20-minute period."
Though the interaction was a milestone moment, McCowan made clear that the research is only in its infancy.
Researchers will need to replicate the data with multiple unique pods to get a clearer picture of the communication.
As they continue their research, the team next plan to vary the calls they broadcast.
Advert
McCowan explained: "We're still at a very early stage. A big challenge for us is classifying those signals and determining their context, so we can ascertain meaning. I think AI will help us do that."
AI algorithms record and analyze the sounds the whales make after being trained on data from whale calls and the human language. Using this knowledge, the AI can look for patterns and language structures.
Co-author Dr. Laurance Doyle, of the SETI Institute, told UC Davis: "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.
Advert
"This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales."
Next we just need some aliens who are willing to reach out to us...