Scientists claim to have successfully ‘conversed’ with a whale

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.

…

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.

young_broccoli,

Exclusive footage of SETI scientists talking to whales

HumanPenguin, (edited )
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

Scientists Claim.

Nope no they did not. They stated that a whale had responded in an intersting way to thier attempts to do so.

The media as usual completely exaggerated a scientific paper to get frucking clicks. They do not even try to quote anything that sounds like the seti scientists in any way considered it communication.

Ultragigagigantic,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

I bet they are fucking pissed off at us

Draegur,

imagine if a swarm of murderhornets formed the shape of the letters “HELLO” in the air in front of a dude

and the dude was like “uh … hey…?”

and the swarm forms a “HI THERE :)”

and then they all just fly away

i feel like this whale is very creeped out and alarmed and telling all her whalefriends “GUYS THE WEIRDEST SHIT JUST HAPPENED TO ME”
“ugh, WE KNOW, BRENDA. we just don’t care. They don’t ACTUALLY understand us you know”
“Um excuse you my human-name is Twain, thank you very much, HMPH!”

umbrella,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

cant they talk to monkeys in sign language too?

i find this kind of thing fascinating as fuck.

HornyOnMain, (edited )

Unfortunately there's little evidence that Koko could actually talk, and a lot to the contrary. here's a video on it if anyone is interested, but be warned it has a few heavy topics like abuse.

https://youtu.be/e7wFotDKEF4?si=UdrU0XE9uJfCybMg

SpermGoobler,

Give Orange Me Give Eat Orange Me Eat Orange Give Me Eat Orange Give Me You

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

cant they talk to monkeys in sign language too?

All the Great Apes have been taught sign language. It’s rarer in monkeys but has been done. Quite what it means is an ongoing debate (Noam Chomsky is sceptical but he might just be angry they named a signing chimp, Nim Chimpsky). For example, they don’t ask questions. However, Alex the talking parrot can, so perhaps we are talking to the wrong species.

Omega_Haxors, (edited )

In this case I take Noam Chomsky’s side seeing as how their opponent literally tortured a monkey to try and prove a fascist eugenicist and didn’t stop even though it was already made abundantly clear it was hurting the animal and they weren’t going to get the results they wanted.

2deck,
@2deck@lemmy.world avatar

Jesus, all of them know sign language??? I didn’t vote for that

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

All of them - once you teach one they secretly pass it on to others until they are all communicating behind our backs. I think there’s a documentary about how this can’t possibly go wrong and bite us in the arse - Compliance of the Apes or something.

Delphia,

“New Species who dis?”

NaibofTabr,

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.

They went out to talk to some whales. Do you think they had a nice voyage home?

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

I see what you did there!

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

I said “woof” and my dog looked at me and started wagging his tail and replied “woof” back. I don’t know what we said, but I think we may have made contact.

Fedizen,

I said meow to my cat and it mewed back at me. We have made contact

Shou,

Just pet a sheep and his tail started wagging. He wanted more scritches behind the ears.

elxeno,

Did he pass your message to the aliens?

Aussiemandeus,
@Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone avatar

Mine ahwoos and I awhoo back then they ahwoo and it’s food time.

I’m certain after several years, ahwoo means “I’m excited to see you and for you to feed me”

OfCourseNot,
@OfCourseNot@fedia.io avatar

My dog and I have some 'conversations' of sorts:
Me: starts getting ready to go out
Dog: up nods [Oi!]
Me: up nods back [What?]
Dog: up nods again [Are we going for a walk?]
Me: down nods [Yes!]
Dog: starts sneezing and getting exited [Fuck yeah!]
Or:
Me: nopes with the head No darling, I'm going to work :'(
Dog: gets closer and lays against me [oh no! Pleassseee! Look how cute I am..]

2deck,
@2deck@lemmy.world avatar

I played a recording of myself saying hello to myself. I have made contact.

GrymEdm, (edited )

Here’s a great 6-minute video about swimming with sperm whales. In addition to their clicks being loud enough to kill you (although they’ve never done that as far as we know), researchers think they are potentially a more sophisticated form of communication than any human language. Other research shows potential dialects and or even cultures.

JimboDHimbo,

In addition to their clicks being loud enough to kill you

I am validated in my hatred/fear of the ocean at least twice a year.

Haggunenons,
@Haggunenons@lemmy.world avatar

They could do it in theory, but so far as we know, they have never decided to kill someone with their clicks.

fsxylo,

That’s their secret dark souls move when you finally get comfortable with their moveset.

GrymEdm,

That’s a good point that I knew, but overlooked including. I’ll edit that.

Haggunenons,
@Haggunenons@lemmy.world avatar

We’ve got a community specifically on this and other types of bioacoustics.

!digitalbioacoustics

GrymEdm, (edited )

I’ll definitely check it out! Edit: Now I know that elephants name each other.

Haggunenons,
@Haggunenons@lemmy.world avatar

Yes! That’s one of cooler new discoveries in the world of animal communication. It’s such an exciting time for bioacoustics with all the recent advancements in AI, I think there’s going to be quite a few big discoveries in the coming years.

GrymEdm,

Just as long as we never figure out how to talk to our pets. Ignorance is bliss and I’m more likely to be annoyed if I can meaningfully converse with a Labrador about when to go for walks.

SoleInvictus,

Yep! They can generate sound pressure up to 233 dB. That would blow out your eardrums and vibrate your insides to mush.

For reference, a jet taking off is around 130 dB at around 300 meters away. 233 dB is literally over 10 million times louder.

awwwyissss,

Boat: Mysterious whale soundsPoor whale: “Why hellow there!” Boat: Mysterious whale soundsPoor whale: “… ya, I heard you, hi.” Boat: Mysterious whale soundsPoor whale: “YES I GET IT! Are we gonna fuck or what??”

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

How’s the old search for extraterrestrial life going?

Badly.

Well how about, and hear me out now, we go and talk to some whales.

Oh, do we understand what they say?

Well no, but we get out of the lab and mess about in boats.

SacralPlexus,

Where do I sign up?

snooggums,
@snooggums@midwest.social avatar

The pier.

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

You don’t sign up you get abducted.

Beetschnapps,

Why are you so eager for this? Why keep desperately clamoring for this?

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