Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land; they can also stop and start with extraordinary agility. Dogs are really good at reading our emotions, and they have a keen sense of smell. Bats can produce echolocation calls at a rapid rate — up to 190 calls per second — to help them fly in the dark. And whales can communicate over thousands of miles using complex vocalizations.
Which animals do you find most amazing, and why?
In “Scientists Find an ‘Alphabet’ in Whale Songs,” Carl Zimmer writes about how sperm whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known. The article begins:
Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their lyrics. Are the animals producing complex messages akin to human language? Or sharing simpler pieces of information, like dancing bees do? Or are they communicating something else we don’t yet understand?
In 2020, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists joined forces to analyze the click-clacking songs of sperm whales, the gray, block-shaped leviathans that swim in most of the world’s oceans. On Tuesday, the scientists reported that the whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known, which they called a “sperm whale phonetic alphabet.”
People have a pho-ne-tic alphabet too, which we use to produce a practically infinite supply of words. But Shane Gero, a marine biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa and an author of the study, said it’s unclear whether sperm whales similarly turn their phonetic sounds into a language.
“The fundamental similarities that we do find are really fascinating,” Dr. Gero said. “It’s totally changed the way we have to do work going forward.”
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
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Which animals amaze you the most? Why?
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How much time do you spend with, or near, animals? Do you like to watch shows or read books or articles about them? In general, are you someone who is fascinated by animals and the things they can do?
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What questions do you have about animals’ characteristics and capabilities? Would you want to be an animal researcher, like the scientists discussed in the article? Why, or why not?
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How much did you know about whale communication before reading the article? What struck you as most interesting about it? What questions do you still have?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.