A study finds that whale songs are similar to human speech patterns after breaking down the sound lengths and frequencies used by the mammals.

The animals’ complex songs share structural patterns with human language that may make them easier for whales to learn, a new study suggests.

For all the world’s linguistic diversity, human languages still obey some universal patterns. These run even deeper than grammar and syntax; they’re rooted in statistical laws that predict how frequently we use certain words and how long those words tend to be. Think of them as built-in guardrails to keep language easy to learn and use.

The sounds that make up humpback whale songs follow some of the same statistical rules seen in human languages, which may be because of how they are learned

Study (Maria) The author writes, “The mysterious grunts and moans of the humpback whale have long captivated humans — so much so that we put recordings of them onto the Voyager spacecraft to convey the sounds of Earth to other life forms.