Despite humans and whales being separated by millions of years of evolution, our vocalizations follow the same principle outlined in Zipf's law

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

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

Humpback whale songs share structural similarities with human language, suggesting complex communication patterns.

Human babies rely on a strategy called “statistical learning” to identify certain words and patterns as they get exposed to complex set of communication. Now it has been revealed that whales also use

Language has long been considered a uniquely human trait, with features that mark it out as distinct from the communication of all other species. However, research published in Science has uncovered the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in humpback whale song.

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.

Two new studies have found that whale song has structural similarities to human languages, especially when it comes to efficiency and brevity. It’s leading researchers to believe that evolutionary pressures might affect other complex communicators in similar ways.

Scientists have discovered that human language and whale songs have remarkable similarities in the way they are segmented and structured.