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  • Whales are definitely more like humans than we might think.

  • They have quite an advanced culture,

  • they have quite an advanced communication methodology

  • and we can learn a lot about humans by looking at that culture.

  • Whales have their own dialects and they build communities

  • which are centred around where they're from.

  • So for whales, community and being connected to

  • the community with which they were born

  • and live their entire lives together, is so important.

  • For us, being able to know your identity

  • and hold it is so important as well.

  • Whales will pass down information from generation to generation

  • through whale song. And similarly, we as humans,

  • will share information through our stories -

  • often folk tales and nursery rhymes and fairy stories.

  • The males express themselves through sound, but the females

  • have a form of physical expression

  • through slapping their tails on the surface of the ocean.

  • It's just another way for them to communicate but physically.

  • So we know that one group of humpback whales,

  • they'll be singing their song that they all prefer,

  • their number one hit, if you like,

  • and it will change very slightly over time, as they sing it to each other,

  • as the males sing during the breeding season,

  • but just very small changes.

  • Now there might be another group, say the other side of Australia,

  • and that group is singing an entirely different song

  • that's number one in their pop charts, if you like.

  • And what happens is

  • occasionally one or two of the whales from the other side of Australia

  • will be heard by the first bunch of whales

  • and something extraordinary occurs -

  • that song that was number one for that first group of whales

  • it changes very quickly

  • and becomes exactly the same, practically,

  • as the song that was the number one hit for the other bunch of whales

  • on the other side of Australia.

  • This is a revolutionary song change.

  • You can think of it almost as a total remix

  • done by one bunch of whales on the other.

  • During the summer months, they actually stay in the colder waters

  • and they feed, that's their feeding ground.

  • But then during the winter, they kind of go on holiday

  • to these warmer tropical waters and that's their breeding ground,

  • that's the breeding season for humpback whales -

  • sort of like a holiday.

  • With all of the seriousness of what we can learn from these animals,

  • it's so important to remember that

  • actually, the pure joy of life is this wonderful added dimension

  • that we can't forget. It's so important to have fun.

  • Thanks for watching.

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Whales are definitely more like humans than we might think.

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