Researchers from the SETI Institute report what may have been the first whale conversation in the humpback whales’ own language.
The SETI scientists have been investigating interspecies communication to learn something about how we might one day interact with extraterrestrial intelligences.
The human-whale conversation took place in a humpback whale feeding area off the coast of Alaska.
“We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales using the humpback whale ‘language,'” said UC Davis research behaviorist Dr. Brenda McCowan, who worked with the SETI team on this effort.
From the SETI Institute: In response to a recorded ‘contact’ call from the humpback whale, played in the sea through an underwater speaker, a humpback whale named Twain approached and circled the team’s boat, responding conversationally to the ‘greeting’ signal of the whale.
During the 20-minute exchange, Twain responded to each playback call and matched the interval variations between each signal[…]
Similar to studying Antarctica as a proxy for Mars, the Whale-SETI team is studying intelligent, terrestrial, non-human communications systems to develop filters that can be applied to received alien signals.
The mathematics of information theory to quantify communicative complexity (e.g. the control structure embedded in a received message) will be used
The researchers from the SETI Institute, UC Davis and the Alaska Whale Foundation report on the project in the scientific journal PeerJ: “Interactive bioacoustic display as a tool for detecting and exploring non-human intelligence: ‘conversing’ with an Alaskan humpback whale“
