Context

• Earlier Assumption: Humans believed they were the only “speaking” species; animal sounds were thought to be instinctive background noise.

• Breakthrough (1900s): Karl von Frisch showed honeybees use a dance language to convey food source locations.

• 1960s: Researchers established that animals’ calls vary by context (warning, mating, summons).

• 1970 milestone: Roger & Katy Payne + Scott McVay released Songs of the Humpback Whale album — made whale communication globally famous.

 Recent Discoveries in Animal Communication

a) Whales

• Whale song patterns follow Zipfian distribution (same statistical pattern as human languages).
• Suggests whale songs are structured, meaningful communication, not just reflexive noise.

b) Elephants

• Findings: elephants use unique “names” for specific individuals.
• Playback experiments: elephants responded to their own “names.”

c) Sperm Whales

• Project CETI : Cetacean Translation Initiative

  • Using AI to decode sperm whale “coda” clicks (like Morse code).

  • Aim: eventually “speak back” in whale language.

d) Dolphins

• Identified 2 with specific functions: alarm + query.
• Suggests possible language-like system.

• DeepMind’s DolphinGemma (May 2025):

• A large language model trained on dolphin signals to help decode “dolphin-speak.”

Role of Technology

• AI & Machine Learning: Accelerating breakthroughs (pattern detection, decoding signals).

• Collaborative Science: Linguists, ecologists, marine biologists working together.

Challenges & Limits

• Functional Limits:

  • Most animals signal (food, danger, mate), not abstract reasoning.

  • Communication ≠ human-style language (limited syntax, vocabulary).

• Multi-modal Signals:

  • Animals use sound + visual + chemical + mechanical cues.

  • Humans cannot easily replicate these layered systems.

• “Speaking Back”: Even if decoding succeeds, meaningful two-way dialogue remains unlikely.

Significance

• Scientific: Expands understanding of animal cognition, social behaviour, and communication systems.

• Ethical: Deepens appreciation of animal sentience → could influence wildlife protection, conservation, animal rights debates.

• Technological: AI is becoming a key enabler of bioacoustics research and cross-species communication attempts.