Australian scientists in the Humpback Whale Acoustic Research Collaboration program say they've begun to decode the sounds of humpback whales. Team members couldn't be reached for comment, but Pippin the lovable mascot said that he believes this is a new step in mammalian integration: "Purr. Grumble squeak squeak grumble wop. WOoooooOOO. THWOP!"
When Reuters called, though, some of the human members of the team picked up the phone.
"I was expecting to find maybe 10 different social vocalizations, but in actual fact found 34. It's just such a wide, varied repertoire," said University of Queensland researcher Rebecca Dunlop, who earned her PhD butting heads with '90s pop wisdom by studying "stress and pain in fish."
The researches used audio transmitters attached to buoys to record 660 sounds from 61 different groups of migrating whales. The group doesn't want to call this a language, but they do believe there are similarities to human interaction. And while some sounds likely overlap in meaning, others have clear definitions according to Dunlop.
With that in mind, we present the 60 Second Science guide to handy whale translation and planning:
1. Purr: A male whale is "trying his luck to mate a desirable female." If you hear a purr, run.
2. High frequency cries and screams: They're typically--and this seems obvious--associated with disagreements, often over females. Run.
3. Wop: "mum calf contact call." Either a momma whale thinks you're her baby, or her baby thinks your it's mommy. Run.
4. And by "run," we obviously mean "swim away very fast." If the whale is already on the land, you can be pretty sure all the sounds mean "Holy Aquaman, I'm screwed!" Maybe you should help out.
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