Scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) in the US claim to have conversed with a humpback whale in Alaska as a proxy for communicating with aliens.
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They found that while most of the whales ignored the recorded calls, one of them – a female named Twain – circled the scientists’ boat, mimicking the noises for about 20 minutes.
Researchers are not entirely sure what the recorded call meant, but suspect it is a kind of “contact call” that whales use to call each other.
“It might have just been us saying hello, and her responding hello, and us saying hello again,” Dr Walker explained.
“We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback ‘language,’” study lead author Brenda McCowan said in a statement.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) in the US claim to have conversed with a humpback whale in Alaska as a proxy for communicating with aliens.
Whales are known to make complex vocalisations that can travel thousands of miles underwater to converse with one another but a complete understanding of their sounds has remained elusive.
Researchers have previously recorded several whale populations immersing in lengthy songs underwater that are also rhythmic and constantly evolving.
They found that while most of the whales ignored the recorded calls, one of them – a female named Twain – circled the scientists’ boat, mimicking the noises for about 20 minutes.
By studying intelligent non-human communication systems, such as in whales, researchers hope to develop filters to apply to any extraterrestrial signals received.
The latest findings also point to the use of effectively designed playback calls to make experimental conversation with whales and other interactive nonhuman species.
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