Just Finished Reading: How to Speak Whale – A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication by Tom Mustill (FP: 2022) [249pp] 

When a seemingly peaceful whale almost kills you, it’s reasonable to ask why. When the author and a friend were kayaking off the Californian coast and encountered a number of whales, they rightly considered it a magical moment. But when one of them breached and landed almost on top of them (caught on camera below), capsizing their boat and almost killing them both it turned, momentarily, into a nightmare. But the author, a wildlife filmmaker, was more intrigued than afraid. Why had the whale acted that way? Was it afraid, annoyed or something else? Did it even know they were there and, most intriguingly, did it make a conscious effort to avoid landing directly on top of them – which would surely have killed them both. So, his journey began to find answers until one scientist made what appeared to be an off-hand comment that directed his investigation in a whole new and fascinating trajectory. When asked if the whale HAD made any effort to avoid them – after it breached and maybe for the first time noticed they were almost directly underneath it – the scientist responded: “Well, it’s not like you can *ask* it”. At which point the author mused: Why not? 

Whales have been known to ‘sing’ for centuries and probably gave rise to myths of mermaids and sirens. But no one, so far, has been able to determine why (we’re actually getting closer to the question of How though...) or if the ‘songs’ ‘mean’ anything. While whale song certainly isn’t just random ‘noise’ it’s far from clear if it's a form of communication, never mind a potentially understandable language that could, again potentially, be used for two-way communication with these elegant beasts. Many have tried, and failed, to understand what, if anything, the whales are ‘saying’ to each other but recent developments in cryptology and AI have opened a possible window to understanding. Together with much better methods of recording both songs and behaviour simultaneously for context clues there is hope that if enough song data can be accumulated it might enable the understanding of any ‘language’ structure which could lead to real communication between our species. Even the thought of such a breakthrough is mindboggling. 

This was a completely fascinating look at the numerous projects across the world trying to understand animal communication – mostly in regard to whales but in other species too. Most surprisingly there are groups out there making real progress and we could, within decades, be directly speaking to these creatures and really communicating with each other. The ramifications and potentials are immense – not only here on Earth but possibly for any future communication with aliens beyond our world. I did wonder if we’re seeing the very beginnings of a true Universal Translator! There is SO much going on between these pages that it's impossible to summarise it all, but needless to say, if you have any interest in whales or even the hint of a possibility of talking to them – plus primates, dogs or even birds – this is most definitely the book for you. Highly recommended.