Whales: Babies whisper to mums

The recent discovery that humpback whale mothers and their new-born babies whisper to each other raises intriguing questions. We usually divide vocal communications into songs and calls, writes Richard Collins.

A third category, speech, is peculiar to humans; no other creature has developed language. But, it seems, there’s a fourth category, whispers. We know that bullfinches don’t sing as other songbirds do, but a paired male and female will talk quietly to each other.

Now, Danish and Australian scientists have shown that whales and their calves do likewise. Are other creatures using this unobtrusive form of communication? Is there a whispering club?