Humpback whale songs have patterns that resemble human language
New ScientistFeb 08
The Facts
An international research team that analyzed eight years of humpback whale recordings from New Caledonia has discovered that whale songs follow the concept of "Zipfian distribution" — a statistical pattern previously thought unique to human languages.
Scientists used methods inspired by how human babies learn language to segment whale songs into meaningful units. They revealed that, like human words, the most frequently used whale sounds tend to be shorter, following a pattern known as "Zipf's law of abbreviation."
While male humpback whales are the only ones who sing, their songs can be heard thousands of miles away and are culturally transmitted, meaning they regularly learn their songs from other whales.
The Spin
Narrative A
The exciting discovery of language-like structures in whale songs represents a breakthrough in understanding animal communication. The shared patterns between human language and whale songs suggest fundamental principles about how complex communication systems evolve and are transmitted culturally, pointing to deep commonalities between evolutionarily distant species.
Narrative B
While these findings reveal intriguing similarities in communication structure, whale songs still lack the semantic meaning and grammatical complexity of human language. The observed patterns may reflect efficient ways to organize sound sequences for learning and transmission rather than indicate language-like capabilities.
