Suffolk Reporter

Stony Brook University has announced a significant finding in whale communication research. Mason Youngblood, a postdoctoral fellow at the university's Institute for Advanced Computational Science, has published a study in "Science Advances" revealing that whales communicate with efficiency akin to human speech.

The study involved analyzing vocal sequences from 16 whale species and comparing them with 51 human languages. Dr. Youngblood discovered that many whales "compress" their calls to maximize efficiency, mirroring human speech patterns. Eleven whale species demonstrate Menzerath’s law, where longer vocal sequences consist of shorter elements. Furthermore, some species like humpback and blue whales also adhere to Zipf’s law of abbreviation, which indicates frequently used sounds are shorter.

Dr. Youngblood suggests these findings imply that whales have developed communication methods that streamline interactions similarly to humans. This evolution may help them conserve energy and avoid predators.