If we could talk to whales, what might they say?

We have known for decades that sperm whales are highly intelligent and social. They are the largest of the toothed whales, among the deepest divers, have the biggest brains of any organism and their immense heads hold one of the world’s most powerful biological sonar systems. We also knew that their audio communication was incredibly complex. Starting in the 2020s, we began using machine learning to decode what sperm whales were saying. By the early 2030s, we were able to talk with them.

Back in 2021, analysis of the logbooks of…