Sperm whales probably aren't at the top of the list of animals that most people would liken to humans.
Nonetheless, a new study of the massive species indicates that they may be using vowel sounds in a manner akin to human speech, as The Guardian detailed.
Previous studies uncovered that whales have their own potential "phonetic alphabet." Now, research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal indicates that the whales' series of short clicks, codas, is intended to distinguish vowels.
The patterns resemble those of human languages such as Mandarin, Latin, and Slovenian, as whales control the length and tone of their clicks to communicate. This latest revelation comes from Project CETI's continued research on a sperm whale reserve along the coast of Dominica.
It follows up on the team's unveiling of footage of a rare sperm whale birth, which revealed a group of 11 female sperm whales pitching in to facilitate the birth.
"I think it's another humbling moment that we're not the only species with rich, communicative, communal, and cultural lives," Project CETI founder and president David Gruber said, per The Guardian.
Just like humans, Gruber noted sperm whales prefer to communicate at close range. They literally click their messages to their counterparts.
In the study, researchers, including lead author and linguist Gašper Beguš, focused on clicks to examine how sperm whales made different vowel sounds.
Beguš said the intricacy of their speech surpasses even parrots or elephants. It struck him how much humans surprisingly have in common with sperm whales, from family structure and rituals like babysitting to speech.
"They have very different lives to us — they're not stuck to the ground all the time, they float in the water, they sleep vertically," Beguš commented, per The Guardian. "Yet you realize that there's a lot that unifies us."
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 The study now points to a once-unthinkable target: grasping what sperm whales are saying and even speaking with them in some fashion. Gruber is realistic that it will take time, money, and a series of small steps, such as Project CETI's goals of understanding more of their expressions.
Still, he insists it's conceivable one day.
"At the moment we are like a 2-year-old: just saying a few words," Gruber told The Guardian. "In a few years' time, maybe we will be more like a 5-year-old."
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