The World's First Whale Rosetta Stone
How Scientists Are Using AI to Decode the Secret Language of Dominica’s Sperm Whales.
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The World's First Whale Rosetta Stone
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Narrated by:
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Virtual Voice
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By:
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Anton Volney
This title uses virtual voice narration
About this listen
In the waters off Dominica, a miracle is unfolding—quietly, rhythmically, click by click.
For centuries, we believed ourselves to be the only species with true language. Syntax. Grammar. Culture. But now, that myth is dissolving in the deep. A team of AI researchers, linguists, and marine biologists is on the brink of something historic: decoding the complex, structured, possibly combinatorial language of sperm whales.
Yes, language.Not grunts. Not signals. But potentially an entire symbolic system passed from grandmother to calf like stories around a campfire.
Their language is made of codas—strings of percussive clicks, each one as deliberate as a syllable. One coda may signal a reunion. Another, a warning. Others might be the equivalent of names. Or lullabies. Or laws.
And here’s the astonishing part: they aren’t improvising.
These whales follow grammatical rules.