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Related article<\/span> Great apes tease each other just like humans do, says new study<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The researchers dubbed their catalog of sound combinations a \u201cphonetic alphabet\u201d for sperm whales, comparing variations in the whales\u2019 click sequences to the production of different phonetic sounds in human speech. <\/p>\n
But while the team\u2019s findings are interesting, that term offers a misleading perspective on whales\u2019 vocal interactions, said Dr. Luke Rendell, a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom whose work focuses on communication in marine mammals, in an email. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe presentation of the \u2018phonetic alphabet\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s nothing of the sort,\u201d said Rendell, who was not involved in the research. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe way the tempo variation is used is completely different to how, say, we use elements of an alphabet to construct linguistic expression,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence of that, and it\u2019s not a super helpful interpretation because it forces everything into a restricted and somewhat over-sold perspective of \u2018is it like human language or not,\u2019 when there are a much broader range of interpretations available.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sperm whales produce their clicks by forcing air through an organ in their heads called the spermaceti, and these sounds can be as loud as 230 decibels \u2014 louder than a rocket launch and capable of rupturing human eardrums \u2014 another team of scientists previously reported in the journal Scientific Reports. <\/p>\n
For the new study, the researchers used machine learning to detect patterns in audio data collected by The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, a repository for observations of sperm whales that inhabit the Caribbean Sea. The recordings represented the voices of approximately 60 sperm whales \u2014 a subset of a group of about 400 whales known as the Eastern Caribbean clan \u2014 and the vocalizations were recorded between 2005 and 2018. <\/p>\n
Prior research had identified 150 types of codas in sperm whales worldwide, but the Caribbean whales used just 21 of those codas. <\/p>\n
The scientists examined the timing and frequency of 8,719 coda sequences \u2014 in solitary whale utterances, in choruses and in call-and-response exchanges between whales. When visualized with artificial intelligence, previously unseen coda patterns emerged. <\/p>\n
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Related article<\/span> These snakes not only fake their own deaths, they use gory special effects to do it<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The study authors defined four features in codas: rhythm, tempo, rubato and ornamentation. Rhythm describes the sequence of intervals between clicks. Tempo is the duration of the entire coda. Rubato refers to variations in duration across adjacent codas of the same rhythm and tempo. And ornamentation is an \u201cextra click\u201d added at the end of a coda in a group of shorter codas, Rus explained. <\/p>\n
These so-called ornament clicks \u201coccur more towards the beginning and end of turns\u201d during vocal exchanges between whales, \u201cbehaving like discourse markers,\u201d Rus said. <\/p>\n
The discovery that whales could synchronize variations in coda tempo was \u201ca really interesting observation,\u201d Rendell said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am less convinced by the \u2018ornamentation,\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cIt occurs very rarely, and I think we need more evidence that they aren\u2019t just production glitches,\u201d or filler sounds, \u201clike when we say \u2018um\u2019 or \u2018err.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
In all, the program detected 18 types of rhythm, five types of tempo, three types of rubato and two types of ornamentation. These coda features could all be mixed and matched to form an \u201cenormous repertoire\u201d of phrases, the study authors reported. What\u2019s more, meaning could be tweaked even further depending on the placement of a coda \u2014 following or overlapping other codas \u2014 within an exchange or chorus involving two or more whales. <\/p>\n
\u201cActually, many of us have been waiting for advanced technology to allow us to do something like this for decades!\u201d said Dr. Brenda McCowan, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in an email. <\/p>\n
McCowan, who was not involved in the research, was part of another team that, in 2021, conducted an interactive \u201cconversation\u201d with a humpback whale in waters near Alaska. For about 20 minutes, a curious whale repeatedly responded to a recording of a humpback song transmitted from the scientists\u2019 boat. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis particular playback (with the humpback in 2021) was an opportunistic experiment with an inquisitive whale engaging us both behaviorally and vocally, and completely at her own volition,\u201d McCowan said. <\/p>\n
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Related article<\/span> A lone orca killed a great white in less than two minutes. Scientists say it could signal an ecological shift<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Such interactive experimentation with whales, along with observations of whale behavior, could be an important part of unraveling the syntax of sperm whale click sequences, the authors wrote in the study. <\/p>\n
Their machine learning method may also prove useful for studying other types of animal vocalizations, McCowan added. <\/p>\n
\u201cTempo, rhythm, rubato and ornamentation are likely to be found in other species of whales,\u201d McCowan said. \u201cWe already know this is true of humpback song. But there is also evidence for this type of patterning in other aquatic, terrestrial and arboreal species to which this approach could be applied.\u201d <\/p>\n
But although this technique is helpful for identifying certain aspects of communication, it\u2019s no Rosetta stone, Rendell cautioned. <\/p>\n
\u201cMachine learning is great for finding patterns in large datasets,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it doesn\u2019t create meaning.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\nThis post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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