Scientists from the University of California at Davis, SETI and the Alaska Whale Foundation reported a successful 20-minute “conversation” with a female humpback whale named Twayne. When the researchers were able to pick up a recording of a whale’s cry and played it to Twayne, she responded to almost every song with the same type of sounds. An article about the experiment was published in the scientific journal Peer J Life and Environment.
Although we most often hear about whale songs, which are used to attract a mate for mating, other sounds whales also make – for everyday communication. So, researchers recorded the sounds made by a group of nine whales, including Twayne, and extracted one – thought to be used by mothers to call their babies.
