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Humpback whales are forming super-groups
- swframe2 7mo agoI hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunting season, travel to this area if you get sick or tangled in rope).
- zyxin 7mo agoThere is a group that is attempting to communicate with whales by training a transformer based model on whale sounds. https://www.projectceti.org/ https://www.projectceti.org/
- b112 7mo agohttps://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-language-models-and-the-decoupling-of-intent https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-...
- SummSolutions 7mo agoAnimals have been highly underestimated, and it’s encouraging to see this work being done. This article discusses their use of vowels and diphthongs. https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-study-shows-sperm-whales-communicate-ways-similar-humans https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-st...
- dmos62 7mo agoErm, it's illegal to talk to dolphins: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it-legal-to-talk-to-dolphins/89424571007/ https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it...
- jibal 7mo agoNo it isn't and that clickbait article doesn't say it is.
- dmos62 7mo agoWhat makes it a clickbait article? >There is a federal law that prohibits people from communicating with dolphins. >It’s called the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon, the federal law was created to protect marine mammals from being hunted, harassed, captured or killed. >In a sense, talking to or communicating with dolphins could qualify as harassment under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. >There are two levels of harassment, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harassment at one level is considered “any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance that has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild.” >On another level, harassment is defined by the NOAA as “acts having the potential to disturb (but not injure) a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by disrupting behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering.”
- AlecSchueler 7mo agoIt's just a pity we couldn't figure out how to better coexist with whales.
- CalRobert 7mo agoWe know how, but we choose not to. The same goes for most of our ecological problems, really.
- amelius 7mo agoIf asked the question, most people would choose to, I believe.
- CalRobert 7mo agoThey wouldn’t pay a nickel more for gas to save their own kid.
- b112 7mo agoYou are a chipmunk. Every second is met with immense risk of predation, whether cat or hawk. Yet you must still seek food, mate, and water. You must "live in the moment", ignore future hypothetical dangers, and simply live. You must be in your territory, defending it daily from others. You must live knowing the cat sleeps 50 feet away. Future dangers must be misty, put out of mind, lest you become paralyized with fear and inaction. To be concerned for unimmediate danger, is impossible. We are descended from such. Humans have a very limited capacity to be concerned too far in the future. And think, if we were, how the probabilities expand that danger the further out you go. Then also understand that the average IQ is 100, and consider how many are below that. So, as a chipmunk do you work diligently collecting nuts for your winter, and your family? Or do you give up some nuts for a future that is misty, distant, opaque? Don't be too hard on people, they're only human. They're only, really, chipmunks with bigger brains. And many are trying.
- 7mo ago
- SapporoChris 7mo agoDolphinGemma at this point hasn't accomplished much. If they had anything groundbreaking they probably would mention it on their page. But instead it's filled with many hopeful statements. https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/ https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/
- astrocat 7mo agoholy units batman > Bursting from their enormous lungs at over 300mph (483km/h), a humpback whale's blow can rise up to 7m (23ft) into the air. Pick a lane BBC. But this is great news. Also the fact that whales "transport huge amounts of nutrients across the globe" (linking to [1]) is fascinating. The role of whales in sucking up critters in one place and pooping them out elsewhere being a fundamental dynamic that drives global ocean ecosystems... just chefs kiss [1] https://www.nature.com/research-intelligence/nri-topic-summaries/humpback-whale-ecology-and-population-dynamics-micro-104525 https://www.nature.com/research-intelligence/nri-topic-summa...)
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- tom_ 7mo agoI think the BBC policy is to provide every measurement in both types of unit.
- redsocksfan45 7mo agoIs it also their policy to botch the significant digits? 300 mph is obviously a crude estimate. Converting to 483 km/h implies an unreasonable degree of precision.
- gamerslexus 7mo agoOrdering is inconsistent.
- CarVac 7mo agoThey use MPH in the UK.
- aaronbrethorst 7mo agoTheir hours are pegged to the hogshead, and are about 3 seconds shorter than American hours.
- oomuinio 7mo ago[flagged]
- tclancy 7mo agoIt’s going to be prog rock, isn’t it?
- naruhodo 7mo agoNot necessarily. Look at the Gorillaz.
- parpfish 7mo agono, i think they're just going to start a podcast.
- tclancy 7mo agoYes officer, this one right here.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- The_Blade 7mo agoMigaloo is joining Humphrey the Whale's team in SF forming a super team
- _joel 7mo agoThe water goes all the way up to 11
- redact207 7mo agotheir music's making waves
- bitwize 7mo agoPerhaps they're forming a delegation to decide what to answer to that thing coming from space? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV%3A_The_Voyage_Home https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_IV%3A_The_Voyage_Hom...
- grahar64 7mo agoThere must have been so much unseen behavior when there were millions more whales in the ocean. Here's hoping that we can see more
- sidewndr46 7mo agoGiven the current trajectory of whale populations, 'we' probably won't be seeing that. Maybe in many generations of humans.
- cortesoft 7mo agoWell, the population growth probably isn't linear, so maybe?
- mulnz 7mo agoWarming will kill off most of the systems these animals depend on within 30 years.
- ilt 7mo agoAnd will give way to many which thrive or evolve to thrive in hotter climates?
- ygjb 7mo agoIt's gonna take a minute (on a geological timescale) for the ecosystems to be able to reliably sustain megafauna again.
- gameman144 7mo agoGiven that we support megafauna today, could you explain why? Legitimately asking, since I don't see a reason they couldn't adapt just as well.
- 7mo ago
- dotspec 7mo agoIt's the Entmoot of the sea.
- starkeeper 7mo agoHopefully they are building an army to conquer the planet.
- dgb23 7mo agoOr they pack up to leave.
- kunley 7mo agoThey are going to save us from that XXIII century probe, right
- shevy-java 7mo agoThey may gather up for a protest. See the whale north of Germany who seems unable to swim away.
- stef25 7mo agoHe got away eventually right ?
- ourmandave 7mo agoAlright, who pissed off Aquaman this time?
- rbanffy 7mo agoIt was in the heat of the moment. Sorry. I couldn’t resist. For the uninitiated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_progressive_rock_supergroups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_progressive_rock_super...
- crumby 7mo agoSuper Groups usually don't turn out as good as they sound like they should. One or two good songs over the course of multiple albums at best.
- AFF87 7mo agoWhat do the dolphins think about it?
- kemiller 7mo agoLooking forward to their first album dropping.
- arnavpraneet 7mo agoWitty!