Do whales and humans speak the same language? | DW Documentary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2021
- Are the sounds and acoustic signals whales make similar to human language? Biologists agree the animals communicate with one another. This film takes a journey into the depths of the oceans to decipher the language of the orcas using AI.
Killer whales live in small pods. Within these family groups they communicate with one another using their own sound dialects. With the help of artificial intelligence, scientists are now looking for repeated patterns which would indicate that orcas have a language model.
A team of researchers headed by Professor Elmar Noeth and Rachael Cheng from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg spent three years collecting data on the movements and vocalization of various orca pods in the Pacific. Their aim was to investigate a possible connection between the patterns of the killer whales‘ calls and their behavior. Using special microphones, they captured the underwater sounds and behaviors of these marine mammals. Then they tried to determine the whales‘ position and classify their calls. It’s a first step towards solving the mysteries of whale song.
Using artificial intelligence to decipher unfamiliar communications systems is not without its difficulties. However, it’s already clear that AI will transform our ideas about highly communicative species in the coming years.
#documentary #whales #naturedocumentary
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One of the most exciting as well as plausible hypothesis is that they communicate in a sono-pictorial language. We know that they understand the echoed clicks from echolocation in a visual manner imaging their surroundings, sort of like ultra-sound imaging, and it's very plausible that they understand the click sounds that they communicate to each other in a visual manner as well
well put! this is interesting
That's an intriguing hypothesis. It makes alot of sense.
So is this a sensor question or processing qu'es
its like telepathy, sharing a minds eye
So if they want to say fish they hear it and see it as🐟?
20:00 "...hunt their prey in a playful way".
Salmon: playful my ass
Like saying cats are "cute".
(I love cats, but "badass" would be more accurate.)
@@theobserver9131 or just deadly.
Even a baby becomes a gluttonous monster in the eyes of a beetle.
@@fredriks5090 well said
😂😂
Wonderful documentary. I have mostly switched from CNN/BBc to DW. Well-done
Fuck cnn bro they always be on their bullshit
@Disc Golfayo ??🤨😐🤨
How you doing lately ,u good?
Thank you to point that out. We tend not to be proud of our nation, but I can be proud about something that represents current Germany. Feels good.
I jump between DW/FOX/BBC/AlJazeera/VICE/ABC/CNN/Sky/WSJ/CGTN/CBS/NewYorkPost/AP, vloggers etc... I always try to hear from multiple sides to identify bias, intentions and common grounds if there are any. Also can gain some extra insight on a story. Like the old saying, there is often a story behind the one they are telling you, which they might not want u to know. At the end, they all have both good contents and bad contents. I judge them all. My next search will be "Norway fishermen Canada whales".
cnn is a fake news network.
I have to say - the part about the orca's brains being at least or even MORE complex when it comes to processing of emotions or language is astonishing...
Orcas are animals that are very similar to us, the way they socialize, communicate and play to relieve stress, they even so friendly to human. really amazing mysterious creature
Orcas even have they own culture.
Orcas are sadistic murder machines
(Not very different from us, tho)
They should be left in the oceans with their pods and not captured. They should not be referred to as ‘ killer whales 🐳
Why shouldn't they be called killer whales? They are the world's penultimate predator, surpassed only by us. I'm sure they would appreciate our recognition of their hunting skills.
So similar that they could be considered beings despite the fact they don't have legs or opposable thumbs. ❤
As a linguist myself and did study deep into general linguistics, this is one of the coolest linguistic themes to me. Imagine soon we could have a Whale Dictionary. Wow. Good job, amazing scientist team and DW team. ❤️
I hated hearing how humans have fished salmon stocks to critically low levels - As she said,the survival of the northern resident orcas is tightly linked to the fate of the Shinook salmon!
Thus is why I have cut salmon from my diet.
Salmon isnt even good, raw tuna is where its at.
Leewwtw
The dams are killing the salmon populations
Agreed but the Orca is so brilliant and well evolved they will survive and hunt other prey items if they have to. Though many resident pods prefer this type in of salmon and exclusively seek it out with echo location, if they have to eat something else they will but it is utter BS I agree with you
This is simply beautiful to me. I remember watching whale documentaries as a child and loving the sounds they made.. I have always thought these cute. It will be just awesome if they manage to decipher their language in our lifetime. 🤯 My all-time favourite sounds 🤗😍
I find them soothing. It would be fascinating to learn what they are saying.
You never think humans should mind their own bees wax 🐝 ?
@@myself9084 While you have a point, I think learning their language could potentially lead to a level of interspecies relations unlike any we've seen in history. Imagine being able to communicate with an animal that has intelligence that almost rivals our own, it's like science fiction becoming reality.
@@Necromitzu1 that would be amazing. I hope i get to see people communicate with these beautiful animals in my lifetime
Cetaceans, especially whales, are fascinating to me. It would be wonderful if we could learn what they are saying. I understand that with ideal conditions whales can hear signals from other whales thousands of miles away.
Another behaviour I find interesting is the "friendly whale" phenomenon. After all humans have done to them, they will swim up to whale watching boats in certain areas, allowing humans to pet and stroke them. And this behaviour is passed from mothers to infants by teaching. I am so glad that whaling is largely banned. And I look forward to more discoveries about cetacean speech and behaviour in the future.
i heard they talk different dialects for example if an orca from icelandic seas meet some other orca more south they wouldn’t understand eachother except for the signature whistke
@Conway Twitter It really is sad. As the old saying goes, "They can't see the forest for the trees".
@Conway Twitter Another point I forgot is that in the wild, orcas or any other whale attacks on humans are rare to non-existent. It is at those ghastly Seaworld-type parks where they finally go isane, killing or seriously injuring their trainers--or themsellves.
@Conway Twitter I do not blame the orcas in the least. Take an orca, who has only known freedom and the closeness of its pod. Now put said orca into a tiny concrete pool and force it to perform tricks and the outcome is pretty predictable. In this case, insanity is a sane response to an impossible situation.
Wish I could contact these research teams, the language is compressed. We must expand each call, slow them down then listen to the sounds to determine the smallest building block. Great documentary 👍
They must have gone through that idea too, most probably
Yeah much wider range of frequencies and with the clicking nature and need to talk quickly due them being hunters they probably make a lot split second differences in clicks that our ears can't differentiate
You are 100% correct!
Any body who saw Star Trek would know that...
Considering we've hunted many of them to near extinction, polluted their homes with dangerous materials and chemicals, some places to irreversible levels of damage. Once we are able to communicate with them, one wonders if they will have any kind words to say about us. : (
precisely my thoughts
MOOD MUZIC, 👍Extremely well put!
You are totally right
What they are gonna say, they are hunting other species.
If u think about it, eventually this irreversible damage will lead to our own extinction.
And then life will blossom again, like it always does.
The researchers were different nationalities and they're studying Orca language. It's just fascinating.
I have been a spiritual channeler and metaphysician since my late pre-teen years. Over the decades, I had pondered and wondered about Cetaceans and their complex behavior. I started channeling on these questions and my spirit guides told me that all species of Cetaceans ... baleen and toothed whales alike, are ensouled or have souls that function exactly in the same way that human souls function. In other words, they are fully sentient, self-aware, conscious, thinking, beings. They just happen to have chosen bodies, according to the spirit world, that is different from our own. They literally live in a completely alien environment right here on the same planet that we humans do.
During one of my channeling sessions many years ago, one of my spirit guides explained that Cetaceans think of humans in the same way humans think about dogs and cats ... that we're really not very intelligent beings. To them, our "technology" is no different from certain species of fish or other sea life that build nests, just like we see birds build nests. In other words, our technology is not viewed by Cetaceans as making humans any more intelligent than dogs or cats, or birds or fish, for that matter.
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂
loved this
If I had a choice I would pick being a whale every time
They must see many of us as immature, dangerous, ignorant. We are destroying their world. Of course, many people are experiencing their environment being destroyed as well. Look at what corporations are doing to many environments around the world. (Cancer Alley in the US South. Hundreds of other places.) So the orcas AND humans and all beings are facing this destruction. By a few humans. And only a small percentage of us participate to fight back, demonstrate, get involved. We have been conditioned to be passive. It is a lot to overcome.
Wow these animals are so intelligent! I am in awe of how the dolphins can extinguish the difference between. The residents and transients. Truly amazing!
Use "separate" instead of Distinguish...
extinguish is to put out a fire or kill something.
Sorry
Another edifying high-quality documentary. Thanks a tonne, DW. Keep up the great work.
Hi @Simone's Salon, thank you too for watching!
Anyone remember when a ban on fishing orange roughy was instituted? My favorite fish, but none available since the late 80's. Why not ban fishing of Chinook salmon, and close down the farming of salmon? I stopped eating salmon 20 years ago, mostly because it doesn't taste as good as it used to, and perhaps if we stop farming and fishing Chinook salmon the orcas will survive and salmon population will increase.
I second that!
So long as ppl want to consume fish there will be fishing. Change can only happen if ppl who consume fish make a decision to may be cut down a little bit.
I agree.
Farming fish is the most economical of all animal proteins. It is far better for the globe than farming cows and pigs.
@@otisthetowndrunkFarmed raised fish is nasty
I can't wait until we understand their language well enough to talk to them, I think it'll blow their minds. Although once we explain to them all the different foods we eat, including fish, where we live, and how many of us there are, they'll probably be like "oh f***, that explains it. Could you jerks PLEASE leave us some food? And be less noisy?"
Nah they'll already be eating us by then . they're already testing our smaller vessels .
@@Mr.CliffysWorld, I reckon learning to communicate with them might actually keep them from doing that.
If you had other options for food, what would you rather do with a parrot? Eat it or have some fun talking with it?
Amber sometimes when in another country it's more interesting to not understand what the people are saying.✌️🙂🐬
So basically, what i understand is that there is another species, in the water, that can do all the things humans can by feeling, emotion, and hearing? Neat!
I wish I wasn't too dumb to do work with stuff like this, what a dream..
We must have something in common with their language, their calls pluck my heart strings.
Interesting about the eye markings detailing weight. Hope they get more funding. Thanks DW
Hi @Sabby D, thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! We're glad you found the documentary interesting. 🙂🐳
DW consistently pulling out bangers. Keep up the great work 👌🏻
Hi @Pucchiaccha, glad you think so! Thanks for watching. 🙂🐳
We are eagerly waiting for your new works, thank you guys.
Such majestic animals. Protect our Orcas at all cost!
This collapsing of ocean fish stocks was foretold in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel, "Cannery Row".
How fascinating. I'd like to watch more such video content. Thank you.
Thank you, DW for this wonderful Documentary very inspiring work done here.
This is so incredible. I cant even believe what world we are living in. Just amazing
Thank you for this documentary, this is as deep as any question about black holes, human evolution, or the search for life in the universe.
Part of me hopes that all they are saying is "water is awesome" and "huh huh huh, yeah".
And not: "Be cool, control yourselves. It is not yet time for us to kill and eat all of the 2-legged ones."
@@TampaDave I'd support Orcas taking over the world. They'd probably not screw up the environment like we do. 115 degrees in Seattle, unheard of.
The more i know about these adorable marine animals, the more i feel sorry about them for the pollution issues.
An amazing documentary! I'm extremely happy to subscribe DW. I'm eager to know what we can expect from YOU next. Thanks!🤗
Thank you for watching and subscribing! Stay tuned for more content. :-)
It would be amazing if we could use those sounds to communicate with them
Example : When we approach them to use the sounds of the orcas approaching another family
Or when we are just relaxing on the boat to use the sound of when they are in the relaxing mode
When we are playing to use the sound of them playing,when we are socializing to then play their socializing sounds
and when we are leaving to play to them the sounds that they make when they are going a different way of the family they just had the meeting with...To me that would be an ultimate achivement
Thank you for adding such a compilation of beauty in a time of great chaos. Just what I was looking for. ❤️
Scientists: "What are the whales talking about?"
Whales: "What do you think these friggin humans taste like?". 🤣🤣🤣🤭🤭🤭
Amazing and lovely documentary @DwDocumentary 💯❤️
Every being understands the language of love and compassion.
Welll...
@@g3064 been there 😉
Really?
Try loving mosquitoes and report on the outcome of their understanding.
@@atgunchev “to love others, you must first learn to love yourself”.
What a wonderful job! We have so much to learn from these incredible creatures. I wish my family was as good to eachother..
Agreed! We have much to learn from the ocean, and we have much yet to do to PROTECT THE OCEAN ... One pressing issue is the NUCLEAR WASTEWATER BEING RELEASED INTO THE OCEAN by Japan's Fukushima power plant, underway since late August 2023 until 30+ YEARS LATER 😢😢😢😢😢
* * * We should join hands to SAY NO !!!
* * * (1) Reference: "Protests and condemnation as Japan starts releasing Fukushima wastewater" by AFP News Agency
* * * (2) Reference: the Aug 25, 2023 article titled "Concerns are raised after Japan releases water from damaged nuclear plant" on NPR.
* * * Dr. Ken Buesseler, Senior Scientist in the field of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry from the U.S., raises an alarm over Japan's release of nuclear wastewater into the ocean from now on until 30+ years later!!! 😢😢😢👎👎👎
It’s fascinating how scientists are looking at how animals communicate with one another the sounds, movements and behaviors and the ongoing behaviors with human beings giving us a glimpse on how the underground ecosystems is
This is the reason scientists are cool man
This study was exactly my dream! I am really happy to know that many experts are working on it. Thanks for the work, I hope one day we can share thinkings each other and learn their old songs.
Thanks! I always wanted to see a documentary on this 🙂
Sperm Whale: "Look! I'd love talk, but I'm a bit octu-pied up at the moment. Can I call you back?"
Think about it, these whales grow up in a closed circle. Every group will have their own language except from some natural sounds and reactions. The reason we have shared languages is because we learned how to store information.
this is so cool!! thank you DW
A big thank you to the DW team for the grat and very informative documentary.❤
Thank you for watching and for the positive feedback. ❤️
this documentary help to improve my Knowledge about killer whales... I fall in love with orca
Thank you DW, your channel has been a godsend during the pandemic. The topics you guys tackle are all so engaging and sensitive! ❤️ Much love to all the team
Hi @Kuba Bohdan, we are glad you enjoyed watching our documentaries!
3-4 days ago this channel without new videos, now new video documented about whale, worth it!!!
That's amazing and brilliant at the same time by DW. Very informative and hard work by DW. Thanks a million for sharing. Keep it up 👏 👏
Hi @Luqman Wakeel, thanks for watching and taking the time to comment :)
Yeeee new documentary!!!! Thanks DW.
Orcas will be a natural allay with Human in future.
In the space expedition era, Orcas can help us to explore those ocean planet, if only we can communicate with them effectively.
Amazing CONTENT and Beautifully Captured DW ❣️❤️❤️❤️❣️❣️🎈❣️❤️❣️❣️🎈🎈🎈🥳🥳🥳
One of the most plausible theories about the semantic content of the orcas linguistic behavior, is that several orcas families joined to trash-talk the scientists on the boats. Its their equivalent of going to the circus, looking at those weird monkeys standing on floating pieces of wood.
Great work on this, always on youtube for the learning, thank you.
The planet is suffering from the uncontrolled, cancerous, and unlimited greed. The economic model must change.
Jimmy Timmy, 👍Good point.
We have to hold a very small minority responsible first.
Jimmy Timmy, yes, I think it is a result of a relatively few humans that lack the empathy Gene, known as sociopaths, psychopaths and narcissists. I don't believe they have a choice about how they operate in the world anymore than those who have empathy.
Sociopaths rise to the top of our economic system and really don't care about anything more than themselves in the short term. Most people are empathetic and seek to cooperate with others. Those, empathetic people, are easily manipulated by the antisocial group.
Yes, socialist are killing this planet by making everyone work in factories for a "greater good".
@@dacealksne quit the crack.
If I was an Orca I would constantly give a status to the other Orcas about how I'm feeling. If I'm getting hungry, or if I'm getting tired, or if the other ones are too fast. Also I would inform them if I spot food, or if the others should follow me, or if they should pay attention to what I'm doing because I show/teach them something, or if danger is nearby. Also I would keep all others informed about my position so noone gets lost. Also I'd express my love, joy or sorrow. I think that's the least we could expect them to communicate about.
But maybe they really have some advanced words for discussing specific things. But most likely not abstract concepts, rather some hunting strategies or simple social issues. Would be interesting if they use names for interactions.
Incredible documentary. How amazing is it that this is free for anyone to watch! Bravo 👏🏻
Thanks for watching and for your constructive feedback! :-)
Amazing can't get enough what a Brilliant Documentary love the Orcas 😊😊❤❤
Thanks for watching and for your constructive feedback! :-)
Perhaps, trying to look at from the human language perspective is what stopping us from deciphering it, we trying to put it in words, maybe they communicate in impressions, sort of a state or a feeling rather then description of objects in words
I bet they probably learn our language faster than we learn theirs since orca's have a seperate part in the brain dedicated to language and emotion. They have a higher EQ than humans.
Please follow the scientist team! Can't wait to hear that they've "decoded" some pattern :)
That unique dedicated lobe in the whale brain has piqued my curiosity significantly
Love this, we need more!
Dory will be proud!
Just keep swimming 🎵🐟
I don't like to keep swimming... it's like if you surrender for ignorance... a very sad movie and movie encouraging uncritical thinking. I do not even accept my child to watch it. my son is not a surrendering person.
@@averagesauceenjoyer7209 well it's the same mantra as "just do it" and there are many instances where doing it isn't smart. To me though, the saying in of itself is incomplete bec the film really isn't talking about blindly moving forward in a mindless and uncritical preset. Instead, you could add something like: "... provided the mind and body is in the right place."
It's actually like the chinese proverb: "one may know their path (to a good life) but like rowing upstream, to stop advancing is to be driven back"
Interesting and sad. Everything is done "...to maximize profits", at the expense of nature. Ugh! Thank you DW.
And, to answer the primary question if whale communication is similar to human language, I say, why should it be? And if we do learn to decipher their codes, I cringe to imagine how we will use it, to manipulate and control them, for our own purposes and of course, "...to maximize profits". I say, observe and respect, be of service to other species and regain the awe and beauty of nature. And oh yes, please clean up the mess we've already made in their world.
We are all forced to live in capitalism's dystopia.
Hello gorgeous 😘😘
How are you doing?
YAY CAPITALISM!! And lack of facilities that pay for beneficial research
meanwhile, orcas in captivity are learning to speak English. I always figured they would learn our language before we learned theirs. They're the big brain guys, after all
They laugh like a human! Precious creatures. 🐬🖤🖤🖤
Imagine if an orca just came up to our house & started taking pictures of us and studying us
EXACTLY!! Some species are meant to be left alone.
the sounds they make make me so emotional
Some sound exactly like baby kittens, particularly “springer”. Great show thanks.
So lucky Rachel spending her life listening to these most beautiful voice on earth. Great work you guys. I definitely can't stop telling anyone for what you guys doing everytime I get involved in orca topics. ♥️ Long live orcas!
What a great documentary,very informative
Thanks so much for posting.
Thank you for watching :)
intresting work!!!!!
Very informative as usual , I love you DW
Algerian lover
Thank you for this- excellent production and commentary: I stopped eating salmon for this very reason- I know its meaningless, but for me I can say I didn't want to contribute to their food scarcity. The magnificence of these sentient creatures is astounding: we humans have left everything in a terrible Destruction. Perhaps WE ARE THE EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT. 🐋🐋🐋🐋📣
Thanks for taking the time to comment and sharing your thoughts on the topic!
T Marius, I stopped eating salmon for the same reason, although I love it.
Humans should get over themselves and clean up the earth 🌎 leaving it better than they found it.
We most certainly are. We are a cancerous, parasitic species. Fuck humanity.
I really respect you for doing that 🙏🏻 and what you shared* inspires me. Seafood and salmon are my favorite foods. But I'm now considering doing the same so i don't personally take away from their precious food source. Thanks for sharin, and God bless 🙌🏻 🙏🏻 ✌🏻💚
I wonder if they might use the orientation or shape of their bodies as part of their communication in terms of how it affects the echo of the sounds coming from other whales? That is, they might reply not by emitting a sound but by altering the echo being returned.
The native Americans managed to communicate with them as well as fish. They rarely harm any humans they come across. Truly a beautiful creature that I am constantly in awe of..
And I'm so happy that i got this documentary for free❤with so much useful informations.. It's so impressive
Amazing Documentaries @dwDocumentaries ♥
Amazing. Music to my ears ❤
Congratulations from BRASIL ! GREAT DOCUMENTARY ! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
From 14:55 min- VERY IMPORTANT. Thank you :-)
I think the sounds are sound pictures, like when they talk about a fish, they produce the sound the echo of the fish sounds like.. etc..
As a bachelors in computational linguistics I am impressed. I expected much less when reading first the video's headline but ok you made up for it.
And Porpoises, and Dolphins, and some species mis-identified as 'sharks', and black-mantas/stingrays/'rays'/water-flyers. There are many ancient accounts of this, and, accounts of us 'training these wonderful beings, to allow us to swim-with and ride along on them, whilst we travelled together in the seas!!(And I'm not talking only about the ancient-alien 'crowd' and their 'ilk'!)
As always, since it's DW, it's thought-provoking, stimulating reporting! Many Thanks!!
There are stories of cetaceans actually protecting humans from sharks. Incredible.
Thank you all for your dedication
Great Doc .
We shouldn't be eavesdropping. They might be having private conversations
Is it possible that one call could be equivalent to a sentence? So a call is not just one "word", but a combination of "words"? Which means that we would need to look for patterns within each call. For Example, Today, how are you Fred? Today I am good, mummy. In these two sentences the word "today" is used. So would we need to look for patterns within patterns?
This is an almost impossible task.
One has to not just observe past, current, and future behavior when recording a listening session , but post-recording, the algorithm has to account for the fact that frequency alone cannot be considered a main characteristic. This is because we humans have different voices (lower, higher) and the same probably goes for them. Also, they could be incorporating their echolocation apparatus for their language as well, so if we are not recording this we are missing a significant part of the overall picture. They could also be sending frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear.
Good on them to try though!
Question, is this documentary crew correctly identifying the orca communities. If I’m not mistaken… the Southern Resident orcas are the ones that are listed as endangered/threatened not the Northern Residents. The Southern Residents are the ONLY orca community to be officially classified as an endangered species. (according to what I have researched/read/viewed/etc. which is a lot lol) I can say there is another group of orcas that are a bit more protected than others but not yet endangered and those are the AT1 Transient population. But still, not the Northern Residents. The Northern Residents population is flourishing compared to the stagnant and sometimes depleting population of the Southern Residents.
The LA pod is close to extinct. There are also suffering populations in the Mediterranean and the UK but you are correct about the northern vs the southern resident populations.
Never disappoints with these amazing docu series🥲❤️
A very very nice documentary on Marine life 👍👌.
Thank you DW.
Wow Marine subject, cheers to DW
This is great 👍
This explains what happened to me yesterday. Bumped into a whale, it just would not stop talking. Something about the cold water, the government ought to do something about it, shortage of seals and those that are around are not as tasty as they used to be.....
🤣😂 Awww
I got this.
Orca: Sex or food?
Orca: Yes.
I have always loved the Orca. So much that it is the logo of my design company.
The shipping container ships are backed up in Puget sound. The Coast Guard are directing the boats to not come into the port, some are there for weeks and the ports are very busy. I hope it doesn't endanger the Puget Sound pods from props and the noise pollution. My Shih Tzu is going nuts with the whales' vocalizations.