The scientists reported that the whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known, which they called a sperm whale phonetic alphabet.
Shane Gero mentioned it's unclear whether sperm whales turn their phonetic sounds into a language, but the fundamental similarities found are fascinating.
The work by Dr. Gero and his colleagues involved studying a clan of 400 sperm whales for years, using underwater microphones and sensors to eavesdrop on and track the whales.