Australian scientists studying humpback whales sounds say they have begun to decode the whale?s mysterious communication system, identifying male pick-up lines and motherly warnings. Wops, thwops, grumbles and squeaks are part of the extensive whale repertoire recorded by scientists from the University of Queensland working on the Humpback Whale Acoustic Research Collaboration project. Recording whale sounds over a three-year period, scientists discovered at least 34 different types of whale calls, with data published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

?I was expecting to find maybe 10 different social vocalisations, but in actual fact found 34. It?s just such a wide, varied repertoire,? University of Queensland researcher Rebecca Dunlop said. The researchers studied migrating east humpback whales, as they travelled up and down Australia?s east coast, and recorded 660 sounds from 61 different groups.