While movies often depict aliens speaking our language, the reality is that the chances of extraterrestrials communicating in English are quite slim.
In light of this, researchers are looking to a successful interaction between humans and a humpback whale as a starting point for understanding how to reach out to potential alien beings.
In 2021, scientists conducted a chat with Twain, a humpback whale that is unrelated to Shania, in southeast Alaska.
Twain answered a "contact call" that the researchers sent out, which is analogous to how people say "hello" to one another.
Surprisingly, Twain circled about the researchers' boat and approached it throughout the 20-minute conversation, answering the scientists' calls for contact at different points in time.
In a statement, scientists claimed that humpback whales are "very intelligent" and can "communicate extensively with both songs and social calls."
Two years after this successful experiment, the SETI Institute published a new paper exploring how the conversation with Twain could serve as a "tool for detecting and exploring nonhuman intelligence."
The lead author of the study, Dr. Brenda McCowan of U.C. Davis, stated that they believe this is the first communicative exchange in the humpback whale "language" between humans and these majestic creatures.
Dr. Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute, a co-author on the paper, stated: "Because of current limitations on technology, an important assumption of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is that extraterrestrials will be interested in making contact and so target human receivers.
"This important assumption is certainly supported by the behavior of humpback whales."
Dr. Doyle further explained that if aliens are indeed attempting to reach out to us, we must know what to look for; otherwise, we might miss their signals.
By employing intelligence filters similar to those used in the conversation with Twain, scientists can potentially identify intelligence signals from outer space.
Doyle said: "The whale's behavior could be a sign of how extraterrestrial species can communicate with humans. Comparable to how Antarctica is investigated as a stand-in for Mars."
