(NewsNation) — Scientists have held a 20-minute conversation with a humpback whale and they believe it could help them prepare for communication with extraterrestrials.
Researchers with the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (SETI) Institute used recordings of a humpback whale call to initiate the conversation when their research boat came across a pod of the creatures.
The call, known as a “whup,” is one whales appear to use socially when feeding or by a mother whale to locate her calves. Whups are also used as a greeting.
Scientists played recordings of the whup and a 38-year-old humpback whale known as Twain approached the ship. She responded to the recordings in kind.
Researchers varied the time between calls and said Twain appeared to be responding to the changes in kind. After they stopped playing the recordings, Twain reportedly called out a few times before swimming away.
So how does talking to a humpback whale help potential communication with aliens?
One major assumption when it comes to intelligent life beyond our planet is that they are as interested in talking to us as we are in talking to them.
It’s possible that extraterrestrials, should they exist, could intercept signals sent from Earth as NASA communicates with spacecraft that travel to the distant reaches of the universe. NASA has also made an effort to send out information about humanity, including the Golden Record on Voyagers 1 and 2, which contains samples of music, sound, images and greetings meant to showcase life on our planet.
If aliens could intercept our signals, it’s also possible they could be sending their own broadcasts out in hopes of reaching us. But if we don’t know what we’re looking for, it’s entirely possible those signals could be overlooked.
The SETI team hopes the research on whale communication can help them design filters that could separate an intelligent signal from other assorted data and signals that exist in space.
In addition to whales, researchers hope to test methods of communication on other intelligent creatures like dolphins, highly social animals like meerkats and elephants and carnivores that work together to hunt.
So what was Twain saying in the extended back-and-forth she had with the research vessel?
Scientists still haven’t figured that out.