A team led by researchers from the University of St Andrews in the UK has discovered a “language-like structure” in the songs of humpback whales, a feature previously thought to be unique to humans. This finding suggests that the songs of these massive mammals, much like human language, are passed down culturally, meaning that whales teach each other their communication systems. Over the course of eight years, the team collected humpback whale songs in New Caledonia. In analyzing this sound material, the researchers employed methods used to study how infants acquire language.
The key insight is that all human languages follow a universal pattern, where a few words are used very frequently while the majority are encountered rarely. This predictability is crucial for how infants learn language. They listen to sequences of sounds, notice unexpected moments, and begin to understand where the boundaries between words lie. The researchers found that the whale songs also contain sequences of sounds that follow a predictable pattern. This had not been observed in any other animal besides humans, as reported by the Independent.
Dr. Ellen Garland from the University of St Andrews, who led the study, remarked, “The discovery of this hidden linguistic structure in whale songs was unexpected, but it compellingly indicates that this cultural behavior is crucial for understanding the evolution of complex communication in the animal kingdom.” Meanwhile, Professor Simon Kirby from the University of Edinburgh, a co-author of the study, noted, “These results challenge established assumptions about the uniqueness of human language, revealing deep commonalities between evolutionarily distant species.” The findings were published in the journal Science.
The research involved linguists, developmental specialists, behavioral ecologists, and marine biologists from the University of St Andrews, the University of Edinburgh (UK), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), the New Caledonia Research Institute, Griffith University (Australia), and the University of Auckland (New Zealand).