In a remarkable encounter off the coast of Alaska, human scientists had what they describe as a “conversation” with a humpback whale named Twain.
Dr. Brenda McCowan from the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and her team, known as Whale-SETI, have been studying how humpback whales communicate. They’re aiming to understand whale communication systems to help in the search for life beyond Earth.
Using an underwater speaker, the team played a recorded humpback “contact” call into the ocean. To their astonishment, Twain approached their boat and began responding.
For about 20 minutes, the whale circled them, matching the intervals between each call they played.
“We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback ‘language,'” said Dr. McCowan.
The researchers were thrilled to see such direct interaction using the whale’s own signals.
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