A new study has revealed that humpback whales are capable of emanating as many as 622 social sounds. Scientists believe the whales' broad vocal repertoire enables them to communicate with their fellow whales, like summoning their young or even wooing potential mates by expressing emotions. Rebecca Dunlop, a researcher in the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia said that while some sounds are brief, some are unpatterned, distinct from lengthier, complex whale songs. She said the study threw new light on the fact that whales convey more meaning through vocalizations than previously thought. "I wouldn't say (whales possess) language, as that's a human term. Whales don't string these sounds together like words and form sentences. It's more like a simple vocabulary," Discovery News quoted Rebecca as saying. For their study, the team used a static hydrophone array - sensitive equipment that detects sound waves - to visually track 60 pods of whales migrating along the east coast of Australia. The waves linked the whale sounds to various activities and contexts. The team identified 622 distinct sounds, which fell into 35 basic types.

Rebecca said these included "wops" made by females, "thwops" made by males, "yaps" made when pods split, and high pitched cries that appeared to express anger. In addition to vocalizations, the team also found that whales sent messages through body language - by breaching the surface, slapping water with their tails and blowing underwater bubbles. She said the whales also sometimes even "speak" short song units individually instead of singing them. Males especially seem to do this when trying to woo a female. "Song is a loud broadcast signal and two singers singing at the same time is bound to be confusing to the receiver.

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This is fascinating. I think researchers have much more to learn about the communication abilities of other species. Even if it is not currently believed to be "language", I think that is more to do with our lack of knowledge than the lack of ability of the other beings.

We are just starting to understand these other forms of communication. Other species have been around for a lot longer than man, so there has been a lot longer time to evolve in language skills.

This article shows we currently can identify 622 social sounds of the humpback whale. Think of how many more than that a humpback whale can! Think of how many ways that we can say and understand a simple phrase like "Come over here." It's the same words but we can say it with many different inflections meaning it to be a plea, a request, or a demand!

I've heard that elephants, rhinos, giraffes, okapi and alligators can communicate over miles of distance by using sounds lower than the human range of hearing, infrasonically. What could they be saying that we can't even hear in the first place? Think of all the creatures that can communicate ultrasonically, above the human range of hearing. Insect communication may be even more complex than we currently can imagine.

Ever hear the complexity in a bird's song or chirp? I think human's computer analysis might someday reveal that there is so much more being said, so much more quickly, than a human voice could in the same amount of time. Birds have been around a lot longer than us too.

I think you answered that one yourself.
The most common word is for help when they feel helpless or need assistance to accomplish something.
Now we can hear them and it is our choice as a species wheather to respond or not and how.

This makes me think about writings I have read that consider God cruel and unjust for allowing terrible things to happen, yet we are the gods of this world and how much do we really do to preserve the lives of other species when we read that soon all of the fish of the oceans shall dissapear?

We hold the life or death of every creature of this planet in our hands now, the masters of them all. I hope that the good gods among us win and the evil ones do not succeed in bringing chaos and destruction throughout this world, and that someday soon we can all come together as One in valuing life that is different from our own.

Nicely put Bella-A and Hugh^

The demise of fisheries is both a human food source problem and a moral one. It is one thing to end a few species, it is another to destroy or severely dismantle a whole ecosystem. And this is what we are doing. With coral reefs systems, which are a vital part of the tropical marine ecosystem, under multiple stress conditions and the rapid demise of fish species, we are facing very big challenges to the marine ecosystems. More people have to think outside of their selves and their family interests. The greater the increase in human population and industrialization, the greater the burdens on the global ecosystems. We need better leadership to avoid these very real problems. Opponents are worried about short term economic losses. We have got to use our 'superior brains' to view these problems in the long term and become aware of the long term consequences of our inadequate management of our local and global natural resources.

There is also the problem of acidification of the ocean waters due to increases of carbon in the atmosphere. Marine species have very little tolerance to changes in pH, just ask anyone that owns a marine aquarium.