Scientific American listens in on beluga conversations, thanks to a new dictionary that itemizes the “words” formed by their squishy, shape-able forehead “melons” to let other whales know when they’re flirting, fighting, feeding, or just hanging out:
For a study in Animal Cognition, scientists tracked four beluga whales at Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium for more than 200 hours and observed roughly 2,500 instances of these mammals morphing their melons. To investigate if the movements might be intentional communication, the researchers carefully observed whether they occurred in a social context and within view of other whales. The team documented five distinct melon morphs used repeatedly in various situations.
“We have known, intuitively, that they do this,” says Justin Richard, the study’s lead author and an animal scientist at the University of Rhode Island. “But this is the first time we have documented it rigorously.”
Richard says scientists should be cautious about ascribing meaning to the shapes at this stage—but he does note some patterns. A jiggly “melon shake” appears to be used primarily by males and to be directed toward females during courtship. An elongating “melon push” seems to occur among both males and females and may be a display of aggression, as it makes the whales look larger. Researchers are still investigating what might prompt the other three distinctive moves.
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You can read more of the team’s research here, in Animal Cognition.