HUMPBACK WHALES ENGAGE IN FRIENDLY CONVERSATION WITH HUMANS BY BLOWING
Whales may be even friendlier than we think. Researchers from the University of California at Davis and the SETI Institute made the first record of humpback whales creating bubble rings. Although using bubbles to feed or even to compete for female whales is not new to whales, this behaviour is distinct since it targets humans.
Following an analysis of 12 bubble ring-production episodes comprising 39 rings produced by 11 distinct whales, the team published a study in Marine Mammal Science. They collected the data by interviewing naturalists, citizen scientists, and researchers and examining their images or videos. To find out if the whales would still create bubble rings if people weren't around, they also looked at drone footage. Interestingly, the materials show that when humpback whales and humans interact amicably, they produce bubble rings.
“Humpback whales often exhibit inquisitive, friendly behaviour towards boats and human swimmers,” says Jodi Frediani, co-lead author, marine wildlife photographer, and U.C. Davis affiliate. “We’ve now located a dozen whales from populations around the world, the majority of which have voluntarily approached boats and swimmers blowing bubble rings during these episodes of curious behaviour.”
The fact that whales utilise their bubbles to communicate with people as well as with one another is an intriguing discovery. However, this shouldn't come as a huge surprise considering their intricate social relationships.
“Humpback whales live in complex societies, are acoustically diverse, use bubble tools and assist other species being harassed by predators,” says Dr. Fred Sharpe, co-lead author and UC Davis affiliate. “Now, akin to a candidate signal, we show they are blowing bubble rings in our direction in an apparent attempt to playfully interact, observe our response, and/or engage in some form of communication.”
The whales seemed relaxed and at ease throughout the bubble ring encounters, which happened 10 out of 12 times close to swimmers or humans. This implies that the behaviour we are witnessing is one of curiosity.
The SETI Institute's goal of researching non-human intelligence to help find alien intelligence will be advanced with the utilisation of this data.
“Because of current limitations on technology, an important assumption of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrial intelligence and life will be interested in making contact and so target human receivers,” says Dr. Laurance Doyle, SETI Institute scientist and co-author on the paper. “This important assumption is certainly supported by the independent evolution of curious behaviour in humpback whales.”
