{"id":402739,"date":"2026-04-17T03:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/402739\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T03:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:21:14","slug":"sperm-whales-clicks-one-of-closest-parallels-to-human-language-study-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/402739\/","title":{"rendered":"Sperm whales clicks ‘one of closest parallels’ to human language, study reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sperm whale clicks are among the closest parallels to human language ever identified in the animal kingdom, a groundbreaking study has found.<\/p>\n

Researchers from Project Ceti said the sounds – known as codas – represent \u201cone of the closest parallels to human phonology of any analysed animal communication system”.<\/p>\n

The findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest the vocalisations are far more structured and sophisticated than previously thought.<\/p>\n

Unlike the melodic songs of humpback whales, sperm whales communicate through rhythmic clicking patterns – which scientists now say follow recognisable rules rather than random sequences.<\/p>\n

The study found these codas contain two distinct vowel categories, described as a-vowels and i-vowels, which can shift in pitch and combine to form diphthong-like sounds within a single syllable.<\/p>\n

These patterns show striking similarities to tonal features found in human languages such as Mandarin and Slovenian.<\/p>\n

The researchers noted: \u201cWe demonstrate that sperm whale codas not only resemble human vowels acoustically but also pattern like them.<\/p>\n

They added that these patterns \u201chave close parallels in the phonetics and phonology of human languages, suggesting independent evolution”.<\/p>\n

\"Sperm<\/p>\n

Sperm whales communicate through rhythmic clicking patterns<\/p>\n

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Rather than acting as a simple timing system like Morse code, the clicks form complex combinations more akin to spoken language.<\/p>\n

The discovery is particularly notable given humans and whales diverged from a common ancestor around 90 million years ago.<\/p>\n

Whales later evolved from land mammals that returned to the ocean roughly 50 million years ago – making the emergence of similar vocal systems especially striking.<\/p>\n

The researchers said the similarities point to the independent evolution of complex communication systems in both species.<\/p>\n

SCIENCE – READ THE LATEST:<\/p>\n

\"Human<\/p>\n

Humans and whales diverged from a common ancestor around 90 million years ago<\/p>\n

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Both humans and whales share ancestry within the Boreoeutheria group of placental mammals, but developed these features along entirely separate evolutionary paths.<\/p>\n

Despite the breakthrough, scientists have not yet been able to decode what the whales are actually saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not demonstrated that the contrasts encoded by whale codas are meaningful, but the patterns we discuss are highly suggestive that they are,\u201d the study said.<\/p>\n

The research also found sperm whale groups display regional \u201caccents\u201d and vary the speed of their communication – echoing patterns seen in human speech.<\/p>\n

\"Sperm<\/p>\n

Scientists have not yet been able to decode what the whales are actually saying<\/p>\n

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While translation remains out of reach, researchers believe the sounds carry genuine meaning between the animals.<\/p>\n

Sperm whales are the world\u2019s largest toothed predators, growing up to 62 feet in length.<\/p>\n

They are also among the deepest-diving animals, regularly descending to depths of up to 2,000 metres to hunt squid, skates and fish.<\/p>\n

They possess the largest brain of any animal ever known, weighing more than five times that of a human.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sperm whale clicks are among the closest parallels to human language ever identified in the animal kingdom, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[264,61,60,43,82,40822,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-402739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-sgg","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}