“It’s just incredible.” Josie Hubbard, animal behaviorist and doctoral student at the University of California, Davis, still can't believe it. She was on the boat of the research team which crossed paths with a humpback whale off the coast of southeast Alaska in 2021. The scientists managed to converse with the animal, says the BBC. A world first.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) research group works on the language and intelligence of humpback whales. He was on a mission in Frederick Strait when the unthinkable happened. A few hundred meters from a group of whales, they turned off the engines “in accordance with the regulations”, details Josie Hubbard. Then the scientists played a recording over an underwater loudspeaker.
“It’s like discovering another world”
The humpback whale named Twain, 38, broke away from his group and circled the ship for around twenty minutes. She was very receptive to playing sounds. An unprecedented conversation began. The whale then rose to the surface before diving again.
“It’s like discovering another world. You hear them coming to the surface. Then there is this big breath, you can see it,” continues Josie Hubbard. This surreal conversation could be the first step towards communicating with a non-human intelligence.
A unique system in the larynx of whales
Long and rhythmic, whale song has long been a mystery to scientists. In a study led by a team of researchers from around the world, recently published in the journal Nature, scientists explain that animals sing thanks to a unique system in their larynx.
Once its lungs are full of air, after inhaling with its blowhole and closing valves preventing the intrusion of water, the whale produces its song by pushing air through its larynx. The sound vibrates between its cartilaginous cords, like the vocal cords of a man.