In the mid-1800s, soon after American whaling ships began operating in the North Pacific, an interesting trend emerged. Whalers saw a 58% drop in their successful strikes within just a few years. Sperm whales in the region had suddenly become much harder to kill. Generally, when predators like orcas are nearby, sperm whales protect their most vulnerable by forming defensive circles at the surface. But this behavior made them susceptible to whaling ships. It seems that sperm whales in the North Pacific were somehow able to quickly adapt to this reality. Groups that likely hadn’t yet experienced human attacks began escaping whaling boats on fast currents instead of forming defensive circles. And, based on what we’re starting to understand about sperm whales, it seems possible they were actually broadcasting survival strategies to one another.
在1800年代中期, 也就是美国捕鲸船队开始 在北太平洋航行不久之后, 出现了一个有趣的现象。 捕鲸者发现在短短几年内,捕鲸成功率 下降58%。 该地区的抹香鲸 突然变得很难捕捉。 通常,当捕食者比如虎鲸,在附近时, 抹香鲸通过 在水面形成防御圈 来保护它们最脆弱的群体。 而这种行为使他们更容易 受到捕鲸船队的捕捉。 这么看来,北太平洋的 抹香鲸能够以某种方式迅速 适应这实况。 那些没有受过人类攻击的鱼群 开始迅速逃离捕鲸船 而不是形成防御圈。 并且,根据我们最近对于抹香鲸的了解 看起来,他们正在互相散布 生存策略。
Indeed, unbeknownst to whalers, spermaceti, the material they killed for, is an essential part of the sperm whale’s sophisticated communication and echolocation system. This waxy substance fills a cavity in the sperm whale’s head. And their head is mostly comprised of an expanded nose that serves as a highly calibrated sonar system. Sperm whales generate some of the loudest biological noises on record, communicate copiously using an array of complex vocalization styles, and have the largest brains on Earth.
然而,捕鲸者并不知道 他们所捕猎的鲸蜡 是抹香鲸在复杂交流和回声定位中 不可缺少的部分。 这种蜡状物质填充在鲸鱼头上的 凹坑里。 而它们的头部主要是由一个 较大的鼻子组成的, 这个鼻子是一个高度校准的声纳系统。 抹香鲸发出的声音,是记录以来, 生物声响中最大之一。 他们大量使用不同的复杂回声定位, 并且拥有地球上最大的大脑。
They spend most of their time searching the ocean's depths for prey. They can stay submerged for over an hour, and dive deeper than 1,200 meters, far beyond sunlight’s reach, where they’re guided by sound.
他们大部分时间都在海洋深 处搜寻猎物。 它们可以在水下停留一个多小时, 潜水深度超过 1,200米, 在没有阳光覆盖的范围, 他们通过用声音导航。
The loudest noise recorded underwater is around 270 decibels. Sperm whale-generated sounds can reach 230. And they frequently fix their high-intensity echolocation clicks on squid. Some of the air they inhale through their blowhole is routed into their lungs, while the rest enters a complex, sound-producing system. There, air is funneled through lip-like appendages at the front of their heads. This generates a sound that travels backwards through their spermaceti organ, bounces off an air sac, then traverses another waxy organ, which amplifies and directs the sound. The click exits the sperm whale’s head a powerful, focused beam. It’s suspected that the returning vibrations are received by the whale’s lower jaw and directed into the ears. Then, their brain’s expanded auditory processing region analyzes the quality of the echoes to map their surroundings in the darkness.
水下记录的最大噪音约 为270分贝。 抹香鲸产生的声音可以达到 230。 他们经常 改变对鱿鱼的 高密度回声定位的咔嗒声。 他们通过气孔吸入的部分空气进入肺部, 而其余的则进入复杂的声音产生系统。 在那里,空气流经他们头部前部的嘴唇状 附属物。 这会产生一种声音,该声音会返回到 他们的鲸蜡,然后再从气囊反弹到 另一个蜡质器官, 这个器官会提高声音响度并传到声音。 咔嗒声会从鲸鱼头上放射出来, 形成强而有力的音波震动。 科学家猜测,回声震动可能 由鲸鱼的下颌传送到耳朵里。 然后,大脑中扩大的听觉系统 会分析回声的质量, 从而了解黑暗中物体的位置。
With this mechanism, sperm whales can locate squid 300 meters away. Scientists think squid don’t hear these high-frequency clicks— even as they turn into rapid buzzes and creaks as the whale closes in. Sperm whales can eat more than a ton of squid every day. Their stomachs and feces are usually full of indigestible squid beaks, and their skin often scarred by squid tentacles.
借助这种机制,抹香鲸 可以找到在300米外的鱿鱼。 科学家认为,乌贼听不到 这些高频的咔嗒声, 即使鲸鱼靠近时,咔哒声会变成高频嗡嗡声和 嘎吱声。 抹香鲸每天可以吃掉超过一吨 的鱿鱼。 它们的胃和粪便中通常 充满难以消化的鱿鱼嘴, 它们的皮肤也经常被鱿鱼的触角 弄得满是疤痕。
When they're not hunting, however, sperm whales use an entirely different vocal repertoire. Mature males make clang noises, which scientists suspect play a role in mating. And most other sperm whales live in social family groups. Though their communication might get interrupted when predators are near or human-generated noises dominate, they generally chatter at length at the water’s surface. Sperm whales do this using patterned click sequences akin to Morse code, called codas, which are thought to function as social identity markers. Researchers have identified dozens of distinct types of codas, according to patterns in the numbers of clicks used and their rhythm and tempo. Some codas are more ubiquitous, while others vary greatly according to family groups and individuals. All families in a given region that consistently use some of the same characteristic coda patterns share a dialect and belong to the same vocal clan. Each sperm whale calf goes through a multi-year period of babbling, where they experiment with different sounds before becoming fluent in their clan’s coda dialect.
在抹香鲸不狩猎的时候, 它们会使用完全 不同的声音。 成熟的雄性会发出叮当声, 科学家猜测,这在交配 中起着作用。 大多数其他的抹香鲸生活 在社交性的家庭群体中。 虽然当捕食者在附近或人类产生的噪音很大时, 它们的通信可能会中断。 它们通常会在水面 上长时间地交流。 抹香鲸使用类似于摩尔斯电码的,有规律咔嗒声 序列来做到这一点, 这些序列被称为代码。 学者认为代码用于社交时 的身份认证。 根据咔嗒声次数的规律和节奏, 科学家已经发现多种不同的代码形式。 有些代码相对普遍, 而另一些则因家庭和个人而有很大差异。 同一区域的家庭群体 持续使用一些具有相同特点的代码规律, 他们说同一方言,并属于 同一个声音家族。 每只抹香鲸在能熟练使用家族的代码方言前, 都需要经过多年的胡言乱语, 在此期间,他们熟悉不同的声音。
How and what exactly sperm whales communicate to each other is currently unknown, but there are indications that the information can be sophisticated. Biologists, roboticists, linguists, cryptographers, and artificial intelligence experts are collaborating to monitor and analyze sperm whale vocalizations. The aim is to finally decipher what they're saying.
目前尚不清楚抹香鲸的 交流的方法及交流内容, 但有迹象表明,这些 信息可能很复杂。 生物学家、机器人专家、语言学家、 密码学家 和人工智能专家 正在合作监测和分析抹香鲸的声音。 最终目的是破译他们在 说什么。