The Boy in the Submarine – Episode 12: Talking to Whales
“We played a sound that we think means ‘Hello’ to the [humpback whale named] Twain… and Twain said ‘Hello’ back!”
Owen
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Today we are updating two of our episodes with follow-up information. Both about how intelligent whales really are, because we are getting closer and closer to talking to them.
In 2021 a team of marine biologists including Josie Hubbard approached a humpback whale that marine biologists have nicknamed Twain, and played a recording that they believed was a greeting, like “hello”. Twain answered with the same sound back, not once, but many times over a half an hour, seemingly as excited to talk to us as we were to talk with him. Here’s an article my dad shared with me!
But earlier this month, using computers, marine biologists working with Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) identified recognizable repeated patterns in sperm whale clicking that are used like an alphabet or words over and over again. We might soon be able to use computers to figure out what they are talking about!
This is the last episode of season 1 of Boy in the Submarine, and I have really enjoyed creating this for my friends and family, and all you listeners out there. Let me know if there are things you would like me to learn about sea creatures to give me ideas for a season 2 some time soon!