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.
1800 年代中期, 美國捕鯨船開始在北太平洋 進行作業後不久, 出現了一個有趣的趨勢。 捕鯨者發現捕鯨的成功次數 在幾年內就下降了 58%。 該地區的抹香鯨突然變得很難捕殺。 通常,當捕食性動物 如虎鯨在附近時, 抹香鲸保護其弱者的方式 是在水面形成防禦圈。 但這種行為讓牠們很容易 受到捕鯨船的攻擊。 北太平洋的抹香鯨似乎 很快以某種方式適應這種現實。 尚未受過人類攻擊的魚群 開始會利用快速的洋流逃離捕鯨船, 而不是形成防禦圈。 根據我們對抹香鯨逐漸增加的認識, 有可能牠們會傳播生存策略給彼此。
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.
的確,捕鯨者不知道, 他們捕殺鯨魚,想取得的鯨蠟 是抹香鯨精密溝通不可少的一部分, 也用在回聲定位。 抹香鯨頭部的腔中 滿是這種蠟狀物質。 而牠們膨脹的鼻部 佔了頭部的很大比例, 鼻部扮演的角色是精準的聲納系統。 抹香鯨所產生的生物噪音 是歷史記錄中最大的, 牠們用各種複雜的聲音風格, 做大量的溝通, 且牠們的大腦是地球上最大的。
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.
牠們大部分的時間 都在海洋深處尋找獵物。 牠們可以在水裡待超過一個小時, 且能下潛到至少一千兩百公尺深, 陽光根本照射不到這麼深, 所以要靠聲音來引導。
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.
根據記錄,水中最大聲的 噪音約為兩百七十分貝。 抹香鯨產生的聲音 可高達兩百三十分貝。 牠們經常用高強度的 回聲定位聲來鎖定 烏賊。 牠們從鯨孔吸入的空氣, 有部分會進入肺部。 其餘空氣則進入到 一個複雜的聲音產生系統。 在那裡,空氣會通過牠們頭部 前方類似嘴脣的附屬器官。 這會產生一種聲音,透過 牠們的鯨蠟器官反向傳送, 聲音被氣囊反彈,接著 再通過另一個蠟質器官, 這個器官會放大聲音 並引導聲音的方向。 定位聲離開抹香鯨頭部時, 是強力且集中的聲音束。 有人認為回傳的震動 是由鯨魚的下顎接收,再導入耳部。 接著,牠們腦中 聲音處理的廣大區域 分析回聲的特性, 勘測出黑暗中的周圍環境。
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.
靠這種機制,抹香鯨可以得知 三百公尺外的烏賊所在。 科學家認為烏賊聽不到 這些高頻的定位聲—— 即使隨著鯨魚靠近,定位聲 會變成嗡嗡聲和吱吱聲。 每天,抹香鯨可以吃掉 至少一公噸的烏賊。 牠們的胃裡和糞便中通常 滿是無法消化的烏賊嘴, 牠們的皮膚上常常有 烏賊觸手留下的疤痕。
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.
但,不獵食時, 抹香鯨用的聲音曲目則完全不同。 成熟的雄性鯨魚會發出叮叮聲, 科學家認為可能和交配有關。 大部分其他的抹香鯨都生活在 社會型家庭群體中。 雖然牠們的溝通有時可能會被 打斷,如捕食性動物靠近時, 或人類產生的聲音大到 壓過其他聲音時, 但牠們通常會在海面上 長時間喋喋不休。 抹香鯨聊天的方式是用 有特定模式的定位聲序列, 類似摩斯電碼, 稱為「密碼曲」, 一般認為它具有 社會身分標誌的功能。 研究者已經辨識出了 數十種不同型的密碼曲, 辨識參考的模式包括牠們用了 幾個定位聲、其節奏和速度。 有些密碼曲比較普遍, 其他密碼曲則會因為家庭群體 和個體而有很大的不同。 在一個區域內的家庭, 凡是持續使用某些 相同特徵的密碼曲模式, 就算是使用共同的方言, 且隸屬相同的聲音族群。 每隻小抹香鯨都要經過 數年的牙牙學語期, 這段期間,牠們會試驗不同的聲音, 之後牠們才能流利地使用 所屬族群的密碼曲方言。
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.
抹香鯨究竟如何溝通、講什麼內容, 目前都是未知, 但有跡象顯示,牠們 傳遞的資訊可能很複雜。 生物學家、機器人學家、 語言學家、密碼學家, 以及人工智慧專家 正在合作監聽和分析抹香鯨的發聲。 最終目標是希望 能聽懂牠們在說什麼。