Overview

• The June 2025 paper analyzed 12 bubble ring events across global humpback populations, documenting 39 rings produced by 11 individuals during voluntary interactions with boats and swimmers.
• Observed whales remained motionless or drifted slowly with upright blowholes while releasing rings, and none exhibited aggressive behavior toward humans or vessels.
• Researchers describe the meter-wide, air-infused vortices as playful or communicative acts akin to candidate signals in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
• The findings build on past work achieving conversational playback with a whale named Twain and studies of bubble-net hunting to underscore humpbacks’ complex social and tool-use behaviors.
• Led by the SETI Institute and UC Davis, the study highlights humpback communication as a model for understanding non-human intelligence and refining methods to detect alien life.