HOW TO SPEAK WHALE

The science behind animal communication, with an emphasis on whales.

Mustill, a biologist and filmmaker who has collaborated with Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, among others, opens with a bracing scene: In 2015, while kayaking with a friend in Monterey Bay, off the California coast, a breaching whale “punched the kayak beneath the water,” nearly drowning him and his friend. Filmed by neighboring whale watchers, the video went viral and stimulated the author’s already intense interest in these immense mammals. He writes that the plight of whales first attracted popular attention during the Cold War, when U.S. Navy hydrophones placed on the sea floor to eavesdrop on Soviet submarines detected strange musical sounds from passing whales. The 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale became a blockbuster environmental milestone and marked the beginning of the end of widespread commercial whaling. So what are the whales saying? No one denies that animals exchange signals, but discussing the concept of “animal language” with some scientists was like “waving a red cape in front of a bull.” Though no specific “words” are revealed, Mustill uncovers numerous intriguing avenues as he recounts his travels around the world interviewing the growing number of scientists trying to make sense of an overwhelming stream of recordings from cetaceans (whales and closely related dolphins and porpoises), with contributions from other chatty animals, especially birds. After the 1950s, oscilloscopes produced permanent pictures, but it was only in the past decade that big data and artificial intelligence enabled researchers to identify individual whales, each with an individual speech pattern, and follow them across the globe. They learned that cetaceans live long lives in complex societies, with clans and cultures delineated by the way they speak, a fascinating world brought to life by Mustill.

Despite the absence of a primer on whale language, readers will savor this expert exploration of animal communication.