Deep dive reveals complex language of sperm whales

However, the scientists have yet to decipher what the cetacean were ­saying.

Dozens of sperm whales mingle noisily off Sri Lanka

Scientists have analysed sounds and movements made by sperm whales to help to decode their language.

Researchers at Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), a not-for-profit organisation based in America, have been monitoring a pod of sperm whales off the coast of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean since 2020.

They recorded more than 9000 “codas”, short clicks the whales use to communicate with one another, and used on-body suction tags to provide information on heart rate, body position, the depths to which they dive and which other whales they are with. The data is then fed through a large language processing model, similar to ChatGPT, that uses algorithms to try to ­discern a pattern in the sounds.

Research published in the journal Nature on Tuesday suggests that the communication is not simple or arbitrary, but ­complex and structured in a way not dissimilar to how humans use language. The scientists believe they have decoded the first known “phonetic alphabet” of any animal species.

Before the study, there was a belief among linguists that ­sophisticated communication was confined to humans. The research is the first example of an animal using “duality of patterning”, where different elements are combined to convey meaning.

David Gruber, the founder of Project CETI, said: “We’ve invested so many resources into studying sperm whales that one of the risks was that they would turn out to be incredibly boring. But I ­believe we’re seeing the tip of the iceberg, which could be a fantastically complex communication system. It’s a deeper structure than we ever imagined.”

Scientists knew that sperm whales have “regional dialects”, but the latest data shows that sperm whale communication is “combinatorial and contextual”.

The team had yet to decipher what the sperm whales were ­saying, and the function of many codas was unknown, but as they accrued acoustic and contextual data that would become clearer, Professor Gruber said.

The Times