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"I'm trying to start a conversation,"

is the most basic way you can say it.

I am going to put a speaker in the ocean
and talk to a whale

and hope it talks back.

If this work is successful,

it will be the first experiment

where we have actively engaged
in a dialogue with a humpback whale.

People have been studying
humpback song for 40, 50 years.

And still,
no one really knows why they sing.

Birds have song.

And other whales have song.

But humpback song...
is even more elaborate.

They have rhythm.

Timed breathing.

Rhyming and repetition.

Hours of patterns within patterns.

With no clear beginning or end.

I think humpback song
is complex communication...

on a scale that has no analog
that we know of.

Except us.

My stepfather was a classical pianist.

When he sat down to teach me the piano,

he told me to play one note
and to close my eyes and listen...

until the sound disappeared.

He wanted me to understand
the sound by experiencing it.

This is a lot easier when you're on land.

So then you go to set the timer.

So this system communicates with this box?

Took ten years to lay the groundwork

before we could even begin to build
the playback files to play to the whales.

-Good. It's live.
-Nice.

Oh, yeah.

-It's working?
-Yeah. Very well.

-Great. Good.
-Okay.

-Power on?
-Power's on.

Yes.

Yeah, that's the one
it's gonna struggle with.

That's it. This is the--
That's the playback call.

That was the actual call
that we will be playing--

Or one of the calls.

Yeah, we'll need to adjust it
a little bit.

Yeah. I mean, we could reduce the volume.

Maybe--

Something's clipping.
You may need to adjust.

-Well, it's clipping from the recording.
-Oh, okay.

Yeah. The clipping's from the recording.

So these recordings haven't been filtered,
they haven't been adjusted at all.

That's good.

-Something's not quite right.
-No. Something's not right.

I am trying to fool the whale.

I should be transparent about that.

I'm trying to convince the humpback

that there is another whale in the water
that is vocalizing.

We were just brainstorming a few things,
and we might have stumbled upon...

So playback experiments in the past
made a lot of terrible sounds by accident.

This is how it works.
For half of the verse it's the real song.

The last time they did playbacks,

they ended up sounding like
a humpback whale on helium.

And this is the reconstructed one.

And then they wondered
why no one responded.

-You clear out everything.
-Yeah, you lose all the noise.

And here you have the waveform.

Blue is the input and red is
what we're listening to now.

-And red is what we're hearing now.
-Yeah.

And you basically are
just working with signal?

So, you don't have any issues
with the spectrogram?

All the clicks and everything
would be thrown away.

That's a great idea.

The only issue I see is that
most humpback calls aren't tonal.

I mean, they're amplitude-modulated calls.

And they're short.
So a lot of them are these sort of...

calls that aren't harmonic
and aren't tonal.

That's amazing.

You do it real well.

Then it's just, again,
I think, gonna be about clarity.

-I think we should try it.
-Yeah.

If you were to listen to all the whales
around the world at the same time,

most of those sounds would be calls.

Sometimes they occur
in series that change order.

Sometimes they occur one by one.

But they're short.

And we understand very little about them.

But of all of the humpback calls...

I think one is the most important.

The whup.

This call is produced,
we think, by everyone.

This is an animal that has the potential
to produce infinite numbers of calls.

Why is this call unique?

Why is this call special?

And the best way to start finding that out

is by playing it to a whale
and seeing how the whale responds.

This is the question
I've been preparing for.

This is the one that I fought for
when I was 25 and I started this.

And this was the one that I rallied for
when I started my PhD.

And I have to make sure
the science is impeccable.

This is the very beginning
of how we understand

how humpback whales perceive the world.

And how humpback whales
perceive each other through sound.

My mum loved the ocean.

And she always wanted
to be an oceanographer,

but women weren't allowed out on boats.

So she became a geographer instead.

She never lost her love of the ocean,
and she definitely...

transmitted that on to me.

Exactly. That's an important thing.

Noting the weird, noting the different,
is the best thing you can do.

Because that will jump out at you

if we notice
these individual-level differences.

Make a note.

Scientists had always thought
that songs were only used for mating.

We got a nice pattern.

So, a violin, a bark,

and I'm pretty sure
that's gonna be a whup.

So these are, like, three perfect exam--

But as I listened to a decade
of recordings from the South Pacific,

I saw the same songs turning up

in populations separated by
hundreds of miles.

But it's important
that we're seeing the structure, right.

So we've got a big squeak,
and then a lower frequency unit,

then the big squeak
and some lower frequency.

And so, if you think about it
as a structural thing...

I've realized song
had to be much more than just mating.

Small changes are introduced to the song.

And then all of the singers learn
those changes and the song evolves.

It steps forward.

Songs are then passed
across distant populations.

And as this repeats,

they become the shape of what thousands
of whales sound like collectively.

All of this is a cultural phenomenon.

So, from Australia,

it first spreads to New Caledonia,
800 miles away.

They all learn the song
within a couple of months,

which is ridiculous that animals can learn

this very long,
complex display so rapidly.

The songs go from west to east every time,

connecting an ocean of whales
with culture.

I'm trying to complete a map

of where song sharing is found
in the South Pacific.

To find its edges.

To find out where
this humpback culture ends.

-Enough? No ways.
-No, I think that's enough. Stuff it in.

Come on, Zin. What's this?

Up here.

What do you think, Zin?

Seem all right?

Fieldwork's always a challenge,

'cause you're away
from people you care about.

But I thought...

On occasion, I've managed to get Matt
to come to the field site with me.

And we discovered
he gets seasick on boats.

So... that didn't work so well.

You need to put the stove fire off.

-I know, I know, I know!
-See the smoke?

Did you open the-- Yeah.

Step one, Ellen always sets off
the smoke alarms.

-You all right?
-Yeah.

Thanks, buddy.

I don't even know where to start. Okay.

-Delegate, Ellen.
-Pardon?

Delegate. Delegate things to me.

Okay.

Can you get all the stuff
off the washing line that is dry.

Yes, I can.

You know, we have absolute
minimal communication coming up,

and that sucks.

And it's really hard.

And I think it's much harder
for you than me,

because I'm surrounded constantly
by people-- by the team.

Plus, you've got something to do, right?

There's no rest, really, on fieldwork.

When you're really interested in something
and really passionate about it,

it's just the obvious thing
you want to do.

I love being in the field.

It makes me super happy,
and I absolutely love it.

And I wouldn't want to stop doing that,

but it is really hard to go away.

It's just best to try
and not think about it, I guess.

Okay.

Come here.

There we go.

Four hydrophones. Check. Remote. Check.

Four dry bags with collars
and GPS units. Check.

Tracker, check. Small black dry bag
with boat GPS unit, check.

iPad, check.
Green towel is in the backpack.

Goal Zero battery with charging cords

and a Goal Zero solar panel
are both in the backpack.

-Black Pelican.
-Check.

With camera--
I checked it this morning.

Camera, binos,
an extra nine-volt camera battery

and double-A batteries are all in there.

Awesome. Big yellow dry bag,
rain jackets, lunch snacks.

Check, check, check.

Okay. Playback speaker.
Four life jackets.

Yep.

-Two radios.
-Check.

-Personal dry bags and water bottles.
-Water.

I've got my water bottles full.

Sunscreen.

Oh, sunscreen,
which I wrote on the list.

It's in the bag.
We should put it on our faces.

We'll do our first survey down south,
and then we'll work our way north.

Okay.

When you're in a place of such beauty,
it's easy to forget...

the whales could capsize us.

And the water is cold enough
that we would die.

There's somebody out there.

For sure.

In past seasons,
I've gone weeks without seeing any whales.

This year we have only a month
to survey at least 30.

Okay, hydrophones,
it is 10:28, August 11th.

This is Dr. Leanna Matthews
here with Dr. Michelle Fournet.

I'm going to clap three times.

Each playback takes one hour.

Below, we'll acoustically track
one whale with hydrophones

while our speaker plays whups.

Starting playback.

And above,
we'll note everything we see one whale do.

This is called a focal follow.

By linking behaviors we see at the surface
with recordings below the water,

I'll have a complete picture of how
the whale is responding to our playbacks.

-We'll start at first surface.
-Yeah.

Feel like she's gonna pop up
right next to us.

Yeah.

Start survey.

First surface. Southwest, 76.2.

Blow.

Never mind. Scratch that.
Not our whale.

-That's not our whale.
-No.

Blow. West.

50.1.

Blow. Northwest.

Dive. 36.3.

150.

-It is our whale.
-Yeah. That's our whale.

Okay. A little white on the dorsal.

-Right?
-Yeah.

Yeah. The fluke just made me feel better.

'Cause that other whale
was also a black-fluke whale.

I noticed that,
and I was like, "Oh, my God."

-But no. This is our whale.
-And that was the right fluke.

-That was the right fluke.
-Yeah.

Black fluke with kind of speckles.
Barnacles on the top.

-Yep. Yep.
-Yeah.

Okay. That's the end of our survey.

-Contact.
-Contact.

-Contact.
-Contact.

-Contact.
-Contact.

Contact.

Does anybody mind
if I take the cheddar one?

Go for it.

Are you guys disappointed
that I'm not taking us down there?

-No.
-Okay.

It's intentional.

There are too many whales down there.

I don't think we should go down there.

It could get really confusing.

-That's not our whale.
-Correct.

That's not our whale.

-These two are not our whales.
-Correct.

Oh, what about that splashing whale?

-Yeah.
-That's our whale.

Surface. First surface, 185.2.

200.

I'm pretty sure it's our whale.

I'm gonna try and get it in the binos.

Blow.

South, 178.5.

-400. The closer one, yeah?
-Yep.

-That's not our whale.
-That's not our whale.

Delete that whole last surfacing.

This study
has a high probability of failure.

The logistics are really complicated.

When there are multiple whales,
it's really hard to track just one.

It's the idea that I might be
able to contribute to this knowledge.

That that might be my little piece
that I can help with the puzzle.

Even in the hardest field season
or the crappiest day,

it gets me out of bed every morning.

I'm a nerdy scientist...

trying to understand our planet,

trying to understand
all the animals on our planet

before they disappear.

So, you haven't had much
instruction with a hydrophone before?

-Not much, no.
-Okay, cool.

So, general idea, this part can't get wet,
that part has to go underwater.

These take ages to wake up
on stamina mode.

Yeah, right.

I can hear that through there.

Yeah, that's definitely doing well.

So the whole idea is you
pop on a piece of tape,

and then you want to wind it tight
but not too tight.

-Right.
-You don't wanna strangulate the cord.

Okay.

And the idea for this is to reduce
the water frequency rumble?

-That was what you were saying?
-Yeah. It...

-reduces those low-frequency vibrations.
-Yeah.

So, yeah, this has been passed down
from my supervisor's supervisor

to him, to myself, and now
I'm sort of introducing it to our lab.

So it's the--

It's the Australian technique,
shall we say.

-Yeah. No, that's perfect.
-Okay.

Now we just need the whales.

Yeah, I'm very happy to see you too.

-So glad we can come out with you.
-Long time.

I know, I know. It's been ages.
Yeah, so...

I only have a couple of weeks,

and I need to get high-quality recordings
from different whales,

so I know what's being sung.

Sorry about that. What do you reckon?

Maybe try there. For the sound, is better.

-Yeah. Sounds like--
-And after we can go...

Yeah. That's the best idea.

-Happy to go in?
-Yep, ready to go in.

-Uncoil it-- Yep. Perfect.
-There we are.

-Right. We're gonna start listening now.
-Okay.

I'm listening at level 95.

It may be at the very edge of my hearing.

It might be, yeah.

It's a game of acoustic hide-and-seek.

Let's let all of the--
Yeah, all the cable out.

'Cause it's not sitting vertical,

and I'd rather get
as much depth as we can.

Below the surface, a song can be heard

by other whales for dozens of miles.

But my hydrophone struggles
to record clearly beyond a mile or two.

Okay. I'm gonna stop that now. File 001.

-Feel it from this way.
-Yeah.

The whales sing outside the reef,

but the deeper waters can get so big

that if you're not careful,
it could sink the boat.

Let's try down-- Over there.

The water is a window,
but it's also a wall.

We can confirm
we do have singing going on,

but it is poor to very poor.

Which means he's a long way out.
We can't go into that, unfortunately.

Ten years in Alaska
and I have never seen so many whales.

I think we're doing a
disservice to the playback if we don't...

do a scan.

Like, we're focal following this animal

and doing a playback to this animal,

but that's not the only animal
that hears this playback.

Which means that what the animal does
is going to change.

Because you and I having a dialogue alone

versus you and I having a dialogue
with a group of people

is going to change how much we contribute.

-Yes!
-And how much we pay attention.

I think we're having trouble letting go.

Sure. We spent weeks--
I spent months-- I spent years...

-A long time.
-...designing these focal follows.

-But when you get there and you do it...
-It changes.

...and you're seeing all
these other things...

It doesn't matter how much time
I spent designing it.

So what it the most elegant way

to be certain
about something we see in nature

without exaggerating it,
without hoping for it?

And I feel like,
in terms of that question...

A scan is the simplest way to capture
the response of a playback.

Strong pivot.

Very strong.

-I think we're--
-Hey, Maggie.

We're making some changes to the protocol.

-It's gonna be scans.
-Just scans?

-Yes.
-Scans only?

Scans only.

I thought I was only gonna have one whale,

so it made a lot of sense
to look at what one whale did.

Instead, I have lots of whales,
which was an unexpected surprise.

So I need to know whether or not

the number of whups
that each whale is producing

goes up when I produce a whup.

And the best way to do this
is to start doing scans.

I mark every whale
that I can see all around me.

If, on average,
how many whups each whale is making

goes up when I produce a whup call...

that's really strong evidence
that they're using whups to make contact.

Starting playback.

Okay.

We're gonna head that way
to give some space.

And then we'll cut back.
Slow, we're gonna go slow.

-Thirty seconds out from playback.
-Thank you. Thirty seconds.

Group size, four. 131, 500.

Group size, two. 154, 1,000.

145. Group size, two.

-Can you slow down just a little?
-Barely.

Range, 200.

Please repeat that azimuth.

142.

Group size, two...

250 yards.

185. Group size, one.

-Please repeat that. I'm sorry.
-185. Group size, one. 250 yards.

200 yards. Group size, one. 256.

I am at group size four at 1,000.

-What was the azimuth?
-I don't know.

All right. Let's stop and start over.

It's really, really fast, and I haven't
had time to really look at this.

I know. And it's--

Let's delete all of those and start again.

As hard as that was, it was easier.

Than trying to focal follow
one animal in all of that?

Yeah. Look at these guys.
Look at that.

All right. Start survey.

All right. Group size, three. 159.

I kind of wanna see us.

-When did we start playing back?
-11:32.

-That sounds right.
-I think that's us. It's quiet.

But again, like, it fits right in.

It fits right in. Oh, yeah.
It sounds very, very realistic.

Yeah.

-That's not us.
-No, it's not.

-No, we're over here. This is us.
-Yeah.

I think the whup is a kind of
hello to them.

Possibly, "Hello, I am..."

Which raises the question...

if each whale has their own whup...

could they use it to identify each other?

This is why I'm playing this sound.

Before you can have the conversation...

it helps to introduce yourself.

So, what else did we find in here?

We wanted to see if they were whupping
before we started whupping, right?

-That's us.
-And that's us.

We don't see a lot of whupping
before we started whupping.

They insist on calling back.

Now, it could just be random chance.

Here they go again.

-Oh, Leanna.
-What's up?

-Here, come here.
-Okay.

-Maggie. We need a push.
-Oh, God.

-Oh, God.
-We hit the ground.

It creaks.

I'm not helping.
I'm not taking part in this.

I will not be sued
if something goes wrong.

Are we on the ground?
I think we the hit ground.

I'm gonna stand up here
and judge you.

Are you saying we can't swing?

Well, if we go further that way,
there's less ground, right?

-Ready?
-Oh, my God. I'm in tears.

Oh, my God. I'm gonna pee in my pants.

Oh, yeah. Oh, Maggie.

-Here, be careful.
-This seems like a really bad idea.

-Can you get your feet up there?
-Probably.

I bet if you hold the stick higher-- Yeah.

Yeah, you're just gonna have to jump.

Jump and straddle. Oh, God.

Oh, God. Don't let her hit the tree.

I take things that I love about being here

and set them up in my home.

Like what?

Like, I don't have the Internet.

Yeah.
You don't have Internet at your house?

-Yeah, I don't have Internet at my house.
-Yeah.

It's really quiet at my house.

I'm far away from noise,

so that when I step outside,
it sounds a little bit...

Yeah.

When I wake up in the morning,
it feels kind of like waking up in a tent.

Yeah. Transitioning out of being here
is exponentially harder.

It takes days to recalibrate

to reality and the real world,
and it's just...

That's where I-- That's the thing,
is I don't feel like that is reality,

I feel like this is reality.

This is the real world.

Yes, but this is not the real world
that we live in all the time.

-Yes.
-So we have to reset

to the day-to-day life
that we had before this.

And it's hard.

Some things we do are not innate.

They're learned.

They tell us who we're connected to.

And where we belong.

We worked today.
We were a good team today.

Yeah.

We took good care of each other.

We laughed a lot.

We laughed a lot today.

You don't need me to cut your hair?

We call these things culture.

The oldest cultures are not human.

They're from the ocean.

For generations,
researchers thought they were solitary

when we didn't see them together.

But they haven't been alone for eons.

Forty million years ago,
their brains exploded with complexity.

Before we walked upright.

Before we sparked fire.

Consciousness bloomed
because they became social.

Regions related to self and community

grew more elaborate
than in any other brain.

Including us.

The senses of sight and sound merged.

Allowing whales to see one another
through sound.

Whales evolved to build relationships
in the dark.

-A tail.
-Where-- Tail on the left!

I've got one there and one there.

Okay. Recording at 13:50.

Okay, we do have a singer.

The moans are really...

You can hear all the detail
in them, it's great.

That's exactly what we want.
This is it. This is the one!

This is the one.
We're gonna hold the cable for an hour.

We're gonna-- This is our gold.

-Like, this is our one for the season.
-Yeah.

The song we recorded is different
from the one I've been tracking.

A new song I've never heard before.

In 20 years of song recordings
across the South Pacific,

this is the first time
I've ever seen this happen.

But I don't think it's an anomaly.

The song has a complex structure
and fully formed themes.

Maybe French Polynesia isn't the end
of the map.

In a week, I lose
Leanna and Maggie to their day jobs.

But I think we're finally
starting to get it.

Since we've gone from tracking
one whale to dozens,

the hardest part is
gauging distance by eye.

So, every morning we practice.

-Okay, my guess.
-Okay.

-I--
-Okay, you first.

I would say 125.

-I said 150.
-I could see 150.

170.

I thought 150 to 200...
was my guess on that.

Really? I was 100 to 150.

-All right. Okay.
-I'm off.

-150 to 200.
-I would say 150 to 200.

Okay, range from-- Oh, God, don't move.

It's 130.

-We're a little under.
-Yeah.

We're overestimating the distance.

-Ready?
-Yeah.

-Seventy-five.
-I would say 75.

-Closer than a hundred.
-Seventy.

-Okay. I'm feeling better.
-We're-- Yeah.

-It's hot today.
-I'm so uncomfortable.

You also look very, like,

-French-girl-goes-into-the-field today.
-Really?

With the little bun and the solid black.

Well, so, that's so that you can't see
my sweat stains in the black,

and I can put my hair in a hat.

Functional fashion.

-Functional fashion.
-Yeah.

I haven't changed shirts
in, like, six days.

They're so spectacular.
There are so many whales.

Just there, and there, and there,
and there, and there, and...

Seriously?

Leanna.
We've got fuel coming out of the back.

-Okay, let's go home.
-Yeah.

It's working.

Yep, yep, yep.

I don't know exactly
where we're leaking from,

so I need to figure that out.

But I know that when I'm feeding it fuel,
that my intake is fine,

but something's happening. I think...

Not even gonna speculate right now.
But I'm working on it.

Okay.

Just know that,
probably for the next several hours,

I will not have any extra bandwidth,

and I will be in problem-solving mode
until the problem is solved.

-Got it.
-Okay.

Yeah, we're getting close to 20 minutes.

Blow.

Moving.

Oh, yeah. And again.

Blow.

-Where? Blow?
-Blow?

Yes, yes.

Starting listening now.

He's not a singer.

He's not a singer. I know, I know.

He's, like, right there, but... I know.

-I call it needle in a haystack.
-Yeah.

And you've just gotta--

They're either gonna be there
and singing or they're not.

So he's saying 4:00, 4:30
at the Marina de Vaiare.

-Tomorrow?
-Yes.

Let's do it. I'm in. Great.

Four, two...

I just said that we didn't have
any good song,

but it was good that we're out,
and it's good practice.

And this end is the business end.
That's the hydrophone.

Yeah, this is the hydrophone.
What we do is, when we cable tie it,

we put the hydrophone up
and its tail down.

So there's a weight on the ground
and a buoy, or-- Yeah.

Yeah. We're putting it down on the reef
there and so there's a lot of fish around.

-Get some really cool croakers.
-Right.

Like, you're gonna hear
a lot of that, and...

-There's snapping shrimp, but...
-Yeah.

As long as you've got a close singer,
it just sort of overrides everything else.

I'm doing everything I can

to capture if something different
is happening here.

Okay.

Yeah.

It is the 10th of September,

and we are currently just
off the reef in Mo'orea.

If found, the soundtrack belongs
to Dr. Ellen Garland

at the University of St. Andrews.

We're placing hydrophones on the seafloor,

hoping a singer swims close enough.

All right. I'm gonna feed it.
Yeah. Right.

We call our communication "language."

We think what whales do is different.

Underwater, sounds can take half an hour
to bend around the horizon.

Or fade in a matter of seconds and feet.

Sounds constantly arrive...

from different places and times.

And somehow humpbacks decipher
an acoustic world

where the past
and present arrive all at once.

It's like knowing how each
of the stars fit within time...

with just your ears.

-How many whales have I marked?
-Six total.

Six total. Whales, whales...

Group size of two, group of three
and a single over there. Right?

Yep.

-That happens a lot.
-Yeah.

Okay.

-Okay.
-Time for my three-minute break?

Yes.

Breaching whale!

-Well, we're out of our work.
-Yeah, but we can watch it.

It's snack time.
Get the snacks, get the snacks.

-Here, pocket cheese.
-Perfect. Thank you.

Yeah.

Then how far away do we go
before we do another survey?

-One hour or four miles.
-Four miles.

Excellent.

How many surveys do we try
and do in a day?

-Four.
-Four.

How hungry are we gonna be
when we get home?

-So.
-So hungry.

There's a lot happening in this file.

I'm not surprised.
There is a lot of whales around.

Here's a little half feeding call.

That's called an arches,
and then a droplet.

Whup, feeding call, droplet.

Droplet, droplet, droplet.

Feeding call, droplet, droplet, droplet.

How many of these did you name?

I named all of those.

You know what we call that call?

Elephant.

No, close. Think of another animal
that makes this sound. It might be dead.

-Mammoth.
-Closer.

Woolly mammoth.

No, it's called the brontosaurus.

It "may" be dead?

Most certainly is dead.

You tricked me.

They do remind me of brontosauruses.

-Brontosauri.
-I agree.

-That sounds like a brontosaurus.
-Yeah, it does.

Three more days until I get a new engine.

We're trying to answer the question,
"Is the whup a contact call?"

And we are running out of time.

We're creating a record.

So that we can at least demonstrate
to the world

and to the generations ahead of us

that something beautiful was here.

To answer these questions,
I have to remove myself from society.

And live in a world
that is dominated with animals.

And it doesn't feel like a sacrifice.

It feels like a release.

I know I'm gonna come home
a different person.

And I don't know if
that person's gonna fit...

the role that I had before.

Like, I went to Antarctica for a month

and came home to a dog and a partner

that I didn't fit into anymore.

And I had to leave them.

And I'm terrified
that's gonna happen again.

-You know?
-Yeah.

I'm terrified I'm not gonna fit
into that role that I had when I left.

You have to leave it,

but not just leave it physically,
but also leave it mentally.

You've come into the field
for seven seasons.

Have you found a way to come home?

No.

No.

Instead...

I do the opposite, and I take the things
that are precious to me about home,

like you, and bring them here.

Which seems to make more sense.

Because this is a much safer place
to be a human.

I've never seen so few whales
this late in the season.

And we've only captured
one clear recording.

Right. Hydrophone going down.

-Moving nicely.
-Excellent.

I'm gonna do data,

because we don't wanna be out here
for any longer than we have to.

Can I have a time? I'm listening now.

8:29.

-Okay, recording.
-Cool.

This is frustrating.

We've got so much water noise.
And so much splashing.

I think we might have to call it at 25.
I just-- This is getting--

This is getting challenging.

I am just exhausted from everything.

To talk about that it's hard,
that it's challenging,

can sometimes be a sign of weakness.

Particularly being female in this field,
you don't want to show any weakness.

This year, I promised that I would only
go on fieldwork for two weeks.

I miss Matt.

It feels like a lifetime ago
we were able to see each other's faces.

It is Tuesday, August 27th.

This is Dr. Michelle Fournet,

here with almost-but-not-yet-doctor
Natalie Mastick.

Okay. All right.

Is he... closer to the others?

Lot of, lot of, lot of whales.
Whoo, there's a lot of whales.

-Okay.
-That's my favorite problem.

It's a good problem. Look at 'em.

Look!

Perfect.

Okay, blue is secured on the anchor.

Blue is now in the water.

Blue is in the water.

Is the volume turned up
all the way on the iPad?

-Yes.
-It is?

-Play it again. Is it playing?
-It's playing.

-We didn't put it in the water.
-Shoot.

-All right, stop it.
-Oh, no.

All right. Are you ready?

I don't know. That was very stressful.

-Yes, ready.
-Okay. Go.

One. Two. Three, four, five.

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Ready? And begin.

We have a group of two.

Three singles. One group of four. And two.

Right here. I think there's one here.

Survey number 26.

That's time.

Group size, three. 145.6.

Group of two. 356.1.

Group of one.

129.6.

200 to 500.

I feel my age for the first time.

And I wanna have a baby.

What are you gonna do with your baby
when you're in the field?

You're gonna bring him out.

It's a hard question.

It depends on what kind of fieldwork I do.

Depends on what kind of partner I have
when I do that fieldwork.

If I have a partner who can join me
in the field, yeah.

If I have a support group of people.

Like, I'm dead serious.

-We do a one-month field season.
-Yeah.

And somebody picks blueberries
with the kids,

and makes pancakes, and does the laundry,

and cooks the meals for the day,
and does the dishes for breakfast.

And then we come in
from all of our surveys

and then the next day it's my turn
with the kiddos.

Like, you just stick one here
and hold two hands

and if they fall, they fall,
you pick 'em back up again.

Yeah.

And then we just bump around again,
and now it's your turn to stay home.

-Yes. That sounds amazing.
-Yeah.

Are you thinking about
how exhausted you're gonna be?

It's only one month.

One month of working
for nine hours on the boat,

coming home, not getting any sleep.

I guess there just aren't that many
good examples of that in our field.

We don't need any examples.

Okay. Okay.

Okay.

-He told me this way.
-Got a singer?

-Yeah?
-He's singing.

-After when we go...
-Okay. Yeah.

...and they stopped singing...

-Okay. So we'll go-- Yeah.
-Yeah, okay.

-'Cause last time he started again.
-Yeah, okay.

Okay. I think-- Yeah.
That explains it, 'cause we heard--

we heard pretty good songs,
so if he's off there, I-- Yeah.

All right.

Going in.

I think we're going
in the right direction.

I think he's louder.

Yeah, we are definitely going
in the correct direction now.

Yeah.

Okay.

This is the same song
we heard in Australia.

The one we've been tracking all season.

Which means there are
at least two different songs here.

A cultural crossroads.

This whale is singing
the song from the west.

But the other song has to be
from somewhere else.

And the next closest population
is near Ecuador.

5,000 miles east.

What I thought was unprecedented
song sharing across the South Pacific

could be just one piece
of a global cultural network.

Thousands of brains learning and sharing

some of the most complex acoustic patterns
on Earth.

The result of evolution
that's millions of years older than ours.

Studying whale culture might be more about
glimpsing something of ourselves.

How we can connect differently

a million years from now.

We're about to find out...

if it worked on this one.

That one starts there. Okay.

So in the first before period,
there's one, two...

three growls.

No whups.

In the second before period,
there's one, two, three whups.

In the during period, there are one, two,

three, four, five, six, seven...

eight, nine, ten, eleven...

twelve, thirteen.

There are 13.

-That's pretty cool. Right?
-That's pretty cool.

They're talking back to you.

I keep thinking it's not gonna work.

I'm so pleased. I'm so pleased!

It is so hard to interpret
the language of the natural world.

To listen and to understand
what it's saying to itself.

That is of the same proportion
as pointing all of our satellites skyward

and listening for a sign from outer space.