They discovered specific differences in sperm whale \u201ccodas\u201d, the discrete and distinctive patterns of clicks that this species utters to communicate when those whales encountered shipping. Individual click sequences became shorter, and one type became more prominent than another. Their findings are published<\/a> in the journal Ecological Informatics.<\/p>\n \u201cThis research begs the question: are whales talking about the ships, or is it an impact on their voices because the ships are around?,\u201d said David Gruber, the founder and chief executive of Project Ceti. \u201cAnd then if we\u2019re able to discern what they\u2019re saying about the ships, how might that impact policy and laws?\u201d<\/p>\n Under normal conditions, recordings from one of the whales, named \u201cAtwood\u201d, picked up one type of coda comprising five clicks in a 1-1-3 pattern (two clicks preceding three quicker ones), which, Gruber explained, is unique to this specific clan of sperm whales off the Caribbean<\/a> coast of Dominica. With the background hum of a ship, Atwood issued the same 1-1-3 click rhythm but noticeably faster, with the whale reducing the intervals between each click.<\/p>\n The association was so strong that \u201cin general, from their vocalisations alone, we can predict whether ships are around,\u201d said Ga\u0161per Begu\u0161, linguistics lead at Project Ceti.<\/p>\n For the study, Begu\u0161 and colleagues recorded more than 1,000 codas from the 15-strong sperm whale pod, using audio tags attached to whales by drones to be minimally invasive. Where background shipping noise was detected, it was verified using digital geolocation data to confirm that vessels were in the whale\u2019s vicinity when the recording was made.<\/p>\n Several studies<\/a> have shown that marine animals increase the volume<\/a> of their vocalisations when there is noise pollution, but the researchers were surprised not to see this trend in the sperm whales, finding that the creatures instead seemed to prioritise altering not just the speed but the types of codas they produced.<\/p>\n This related to previous studies where Project Ceti researchers described the \u201cuse of vowels\u201d<\/a> in sperm whales. Communication among sperm whales has long been viewed as a series of morse code-like clicks, but in that work the team found that if the gaps between individual clicks in a coda sequence were condensed to speed up the recording, they formed a continuous unit of sound that resembled two human vowels \u2013 the sounds \u201caaaa\u201d and \u201ciiii\u201d.<\/p>\n Researchers from Project Ceti diving with a whale recording unit. Photograph: Project Ceti<\/p>\n In the latest research, in addition to the changing coda tempo, the team identified differences in the prevalence of these two vowel-like sounds in noisy conditions, with sperm whales using the \u201caaaa\u201d coda more frequently.<\/p>\n \u201cThe study is actually one of the first glimpses that the vowels that we discovered might actually carry meaningful information. Because in the presence of shipping noise, they change the way they use those vowels,\u201d Begu\u0161 said.<\/p>\n Some researchers have criticised<\/a> Ceti\u2019s previous studies, finding fault<\/a> with its methods and saying that describing whale communication using terms such as \u201cvowels\u201d and \u201clanguage\u201d stretches the associations between whale and human communication too far. Gruber says they try to address this concern by using terms such as \u201cvowel-like\u201d or \u201clanguage-like\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Audio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Audio_recordings_au_sperm_whales_communicating_--f526cbd7-c5be-41a0-a752-4f749c394378-2.0.0000000.jp.jpeg\")
Audio recordings of sperm whales communicating<\/p>\n