Whale Songs and Human Speech Share Surprising Similarities
Scientists have discovered that the complex songs of humpback whales share structural patterns with human language. By analyzing recordings collected over eight years in New Caledonia, researchers found that the groans, moans, whistles, barks, shrieks, and squeaks of humpback whales follow similar frequency and brevity rules as human speech.
“Their noises and our words share a common pattern,” said Emma Carroll, a marine biologist at the University of Auckland and expert in whale genetics. “It’s something truly fascinating.”
While this doesn’t mean whales have a language like humans, the findings suggest that the communication systems of two evolutionarily distant species have evolved in similar ways. In human languages, the most commonly used words are short and appear more frequently. The researchers observed that segments of whale songs followed the same pattern.
Published in the journal Science, the study argues that this shared structure may aid in learning, just as it does for humans. Humpback whale songs are among the most complex acoustic displays in the animal kingdom, performed only by males and likely playing a role in mate selection. Each song can last up to 20 minutes and involves various sound types arranged in patterns.
“Once thought to be unique to humans, it may turn out that foundational aspects of human language are shared across species,” the researchers noted.
