MYSTIC, Conn. (WFSB) - Be honest, do you ever talk to your dog or cat? Well just imagine if you could actually understand them as well.
It might sound like science fiction but right now talented researchers are using artificial intelligence to try to decode animal language!
Clearly Pip and her sea lion sisters at the Mystic Aquarium have a lot to say and one day in the not too distant future, we might actually be able to use artificial intelligence to help learn What each of these beautiful barks actually means.
Mairim Martinez, the assistant curator of marine mammals at the Mystic Aquarium said for researchers it would be a dream come true.
"I can definitely think of a few times where I thought man I really wish I understood or knew what they were trying to tell me," expressed Martinez. "So I think having that technology in the future if we can make it work would be exciting."
With training and repetition even humans can communicate with sea lions but what's really cool is we know even more about how these beauties communicate with one another and in the not too distant future we could learn even more.
Right now scientists are using AI to try to decode animal language. Imagine a world where we can understand the sea lions in Mystic or even our dogs and cats at home and that's just the beginning.
Those clicks are the sounds of sperm whales chatting with one another!
"Humans have been fascinated with what animals are saying for hundreds of years," noted Dr. Gero.
Doctor Shane Gero is a whale biologist and biology lead for Project CETI, a non-profit organization that uses artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning to translate sperm whale communication!
"Project CETI is a listening project...What can we learn if we just stop and listen to someone who lives there lives completely different than us and the answer is quite a bit," explained Dr. Gero.
Project CETI researchers use autonomous submarines and drones to record the sounds of sperm whales and use artificial intelligence to process all that data to find patterns similar to Morse code and then catalog that communication instantly...
"So if we want to understand what animals are saying to each other why they feel the need to talk to each one another we need to know who is saying what but also where are they, when are they doing it, and who is doing it," said Dr. Gero.
Since Project CETI launched in 2020, researchers have determined that when sperm whales meet, they actually told each other where they're from and identify their families and possibly who they are individually!
"That's where we are getting now, we can listen to sperm whales and predict what they are going to say next," added Dr. Gero. "Start to predict which behavior they are going to do next after they say something."
Who knew eavesdropping could be so fascinating! More importantly Gero said that knowledge can improve conservation efforts because if we learn more about animal behaviors we can do a better job protecting them.
Its a lot of work but Gero said it's well worth it
"I feel grateful for all of the work ive been able to do," expressed Dr. Gero." And the time I've been able to spend with the whales."
Back in Mystic, Martinez knows researchers have tons of work to do before we can really hope to fully decode animal language but she can't wait to learn what her friends here are chatting about.
"It'll be a whole new world when we understand it," said Martinez.