Sperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/sperm-whales-alphabet-vocalizations-similar-humans

184 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

porcoesphino@mander.xyz · 28 pts · 122d

It seems to be evidence of vowels and consonants, not evidence for complex grammar like the title might imply

SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 122d (3 replies)

When they taught apes sign language, it got stuck on the fact that they couldn't form structured sentences (they just mimed jumbled strings of words). Perhaps whales will be different?

standardUser@anarchist.nexus · 10 pts · 121d (2 replies)

You trying to tell me this is not a correctly structured sentence from my boy Nim the chimp,

Give Me Orange Give Orange Me Give Eat Orange Me Eat Orange Give Me Eat Orange Give Me You

Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 121d

I mean it seems he got the jist of the meaning

SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 120d

Well, at least he tried

kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 121d (1 reply)

I would trust the science much more if they had a guy in another room doing LSD and talking to the whales telepathically

noxypaws@pawb.social · 2 pts · 121d

the handjobs would be quite the logistics challenge tho

altphoto@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 121d

.....okay, so here's how you open your mouth really wide...not like that!... I mean, really really wide. Then you close it and you get a meal. It only happens if you see our krill friends around. Some how the krill disappear after that. So you gotta keep finding krill friends if you want to eat good.