Decode whale sounds

Australian scientists are studying the sound of humpback whales, saying they have deciphered the mysterious whale's communication system, determining the whale's cry and the whale's warning sound.

Scrubs, drums, grunts and shrieks are part of the whale voices collected by scientists at the University of Queensland.

While collecting whale for a three-year period, scientists discovered at least 34 different whales of whales, with data published in the Journal of the American Sound Association.'I hope to find about 10 different voices, but actually find 34. This is a large and diverse directory,' the University of Queensland researcher Rebecca Dunlop told Reuters .

(Photo: Rolf Hicker) Scientists have studied migratory whale migrations to the east, as they move up and down the east coast of Australia, and collect 660 sounds from 61 different whale groups. They attached the sound transmitter to the buoys near the whale and controlled the whale interaction from the coast.

Dunlop says many whale sounds may mean the same thing, but some have obvious meanings . The purr of the male means it is flirting with the children. Screams and high-frequency screams can be attributed to dissatisfaction, when the males huddle with the females during the migration. The sound is very popular when the mother whales swim with their children.

Dunlop does not define whale contacts as language, but speaking their sounds clearly have similarities with interactions between people. 'It is interesting that they are clearly marine mammals, they have been separated from mammals on land for a long, long time, but they still seem to use mechanical communication systems. version ', Dunlop said.

Dunlop hopes that future research will help explore the effects of ships and navigation devices on migrating whales.

Q.HONG