“They heard us”: Scientists communicated with a whale for 20 minutes (5 photos + 1 video)

Scientists from the University of California, the Alaska Whale Foundation and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) alien hunters have teamed up to conduct the first conversation with a marine mammal. For 20 minutes they had a dialogue with a female humpback whale named Twain in her native language.





Using an underwater speaker, the researchers sent a contact signal off the coast of Alaska. And Twain responded.

Brenda McCowan, a professor at the University of California, Davis, explained that contact signals are similar to human greetings: with their help, whales call relatives or tell each other their location.

Fred Sharp, co-author of the experiment and principal investigator of the Alaska Whale Foundation, said: "This is one of the most common calls in the sound repertoire of humpback whales."

Twain approached the scientists' boat and walked around it.



The experts played sounds at different intervals, and the animal responded in the same rhythm. The matching tempo of the conversation suggests that Twain was participating in the dialogue.

Fred admitted: "We felt heard. And we hope she felt the same."

Twain swam to the scientists' boat and then responded to 36 contact signals.





Scientists recorded the signals of a small group of whales just a day before the experiment. Twain was also in this group, so it is quite possible that she was responding to her own signal.

Fred said: “Humpback whales are extremely intelligent, have complex social systems, construct bubble nets to catch fish, and communicate extensively both through song and social cues.”

"We believe this is the first communication exchange between humans and humpback whales in their language."



Such communication will help in the future to establish contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.

Lawrence Doyle, principal investigator at the SETI Institute and co-author of the paper, explained: "While our technology in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is limited, aliens may be interested in making contact and therefore target human receivers."

Lawrence and his SETI colleagues are working with experts at the University of California and the Alaska Whale Foundation to create smart filters to search for signals from space.

Twain's answers could potentially be related to how intelligent alien races are searching for humanity



If aliens are somewhere nearby, sending us signals and trying to establish communication, then we may not notice them if we don’t know what to look for.

By improving intelligent filters, scientists will be able to identify signals from space and establish first contact with an alien race.

“The intelligence of creatures on our planet is different, and by studying animals, we can better understand what alien intelligence might be like,” Brenda concluded.

Lawrence added: "Whale studies have shown that if you are intelligent, curiosity comes with it and you want to engage."