Data from: Interactive bioacoustic playback as a tool for detecting and exploring nonhuman intelligence: “Conversing” with an Alaskan humpback whale ...

• Main Authors: McCowan, Brenda, Hubbard, Josephine, Walker, Lisa, Sharpe, Fred, Frediani, Jodi, Doyle, Laurance
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2023
• Subjects: FOS: Natural sciences; communication; bioacoustic playback; Turn-taking; vocal matching; humpback whale; Charity; Doyle; Humpback Whale; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrn0; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrn0

Here we report on a rare and opportunistic acoustic turn-taking with an adult female humpback whale, known as Twain, in Southeast Alaska. Post hoc acoustic and statistical analyses of a 20-minute acoustic exchange between the broadcast of a recorded contact call, known as a ’whup/throp’, with call responses by Twain revealed an intentional human-whale acoustic (and behavioral) interaction. Our results show that Twain participated both physically and acoustically in three phases of interaction (Phase 1: Engagement, Phase 2: Agitation, Phase 3: Disengagement), independently determined by blind observers reporting on surface behavior and respiratory activity of the interacting whale. A close examination of both changes to the latency between Twain’s calls and the temporal matching to the latency of the exemplar across phases indicated that Twain was actively engaged in the exchange during Phase 1 (Engagement), less so during Phase 2 (Agitation), and disengaged during Phase 3 (Disengagement). These results, ... : ## Supplementary Materials 1. Title of Dataset: Interactive Bioacoustic Playback as a Tool for Detecting and Exploring Nonhuman Intelligence: “Conversing” with an Alaskan Humpback Whale 2. Author Information A. Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Laurance Doyle Institution: SETI Institute Address: Mountain View, CA Email: [e-mail] B. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Brenda McCowan Institution: University of California, Davis Address: Davis, CA Email: [e-mail] 3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): August 2021 4. Geographic location of data collection: Southeast Alaska, US 5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Templeton World Charity Foundation Diverse Intelligences grants TWCF0311 and TWCF0440 (P.I. L. Doyle) ## Description of the data and file structure (1) Video/hydrophone recordings: (A) Twain Align Video Hydro A.MP4: Video camera recording aligned with Hydrophone A (B) Twain Video ...