Whales are definitely more like humans than we might think.
They have quite an advanced culture,
they have quite an advanced communication methodology
and we can learn a lot about humans by looking at that culture.
Whales have their own dialects and they build communities
which are centred around where they're from.
So for whales, community and being connected to
the community with which they were born
and live their entire lives together, is so important.
For us, being able to know your identity
and hold it is so important as well.
Whales will pass down information from generation to generation
through whale song. And similarly, we as humans,
will share information through our stories -
often folk tales and nursery rhymes and fairy stories.
The males express themselves through sound, but the females
have a form of physical expression
through slapping their tails on the surface of the ocean.
It's just another way for them to communicate but physically.
So we know that one group of humpback whales,
they'll be singing their song that they all prefer,
their number one hit, if you like,
and it will change very slightly over time, as they sing it to each other,
as the males sing during the breeding season,
but just very small changes.
Now there might be another group, say the other side of Australia,
and that group is singing an entirely different song
that's number one in their pop charts, if you like.
And what happens is
occasionally one or two of the whales from the other side of Australia
will be heard by the first bunch of whales
and something extraordinary occurs -
that song that was number one for that first group of whales
it changes very quickly
and becomes exactly the same, practically,
as the song that was the number one hit for the other bunch of whales
on the other side of Australia.
This is a revolutionary song change.
You can think of it almost as a total remix
done by one bunch of whales on the other.
During the summer months, they actually stay in the colder waters
and they feed, that's their feeding ground.
But then during the winter, they kind of go on holiday
to these warmer tropical waters and that's their breeding ground,
that's the breeding season for humpback whales -
sort of like a holiday.
With all of the seriousness of what we can learn from these animals,
it's so important to remember that
actually, the pure joy of life is this wonderful added dimension
that we can't forget. It's so important to have fun.
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