Scientists had a groundbreaking conversation with a humpback whale in her own language and it could help humans chat wit [View all]
Scientists had a groundbreaking conversation with a humpback whale in her own language and it could help humans chat with aliens one day
https://www.yahoo.com/news/whales-teaching-scientists-communicating-aliens-194914681.html
The scientists sailed a boat off the coast of Alaska and played what's called a "contact call" into the ocean to see if any whales would respond.
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Sure enough, Twain swam up to the boat and circled it. For the next 20 minutes, the scientists emitted the same contact call 36 different times at varying intervals, and Twain responded to the call each time, even closely matching the intervals.
Meaning, if the scientists waited 10 seconds before playing a call back to Twain, she would in turn wait 10 seconds before responding, McCowan said. This type of interval matching suggests Twain was engaged in an intentional exchange, she added.
"It certainly felt like we had been heard," Sharpe told BI, emphasizing that their work is done with a permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service and readers should not try this at home (or sea). "And we hope that she felt the same way, too."
"We believe this is the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback 'language,'" McCowan said in a statement.
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