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Wired Science reports that in the journal Animal Behavior, a study suggests individual sperm whales may have discrete individual identifiers within their call. In non-technical terms this means they can identify each other by their calls. Luke Rendell of St. Andrew’s University, Scotland said:

“The findings are preliminary, based on observations of just three whales, so talk of names is still speculation. But it’s very suggestive,” and he goes on to say, “they seem to make that coda in a way that’s individually distinctive.”

The study looked at the click sequences, or codas, used by sperm whales to communicate across miles of deep ocean. In these sequences is a group of five consecutive clicks called 5R, and these seem superficially to be identical in each whale. Analyzed closely, however, variations in click timing emerge and in the study group, each of the researchers’ whales had its own personal 5R riff. (Image by Tony Wu)