"Mate, do you know there's a whale just following you?" The question comes from Jason Iggleden, the pilot of a drone hovering off Bondi BeachOne of Australia's most iconic beaches, located in eastern Sydney. in Australia. The footage he is watching shows a lone kayak dwarfed by the humpback whale which is swimming up beside it. As the pair approach the shallows, the whale turns aside as if to warn the human of the danger of becoming stranded.

"Holy dooly!" exclaims Iggleden.

The incident has revived a debate about the intelligence of whales and how they interact with others. Some people believe that their behaviour can be eerily human.

Sperm whales have the biggest brains on the planet: an adult's is around 8,000 cubic centimetres in size.¹ The human brain is far smaller at around 1,300 cubic centimetres.

Intelligence, however, is believed to depend on the number of neocortical neuronsNeurons, also known as nerve cells, are cells in the nervous system that use chemical or electrical signals to transmit information throughout the body.  in the brain. These are connections between the most advanced part of the brain - the neocortex, which is concerned with functions such as language - and the rest of it.

Research has shown that humans have 50% more of them than whales. But the neurons need the support of cells called gliaThe connective tissue of the nervous system. - and whales have far more of these than we do. On the basis of this, some experts argue that whales may be just as intelligent as we are, but in a different way.

One theory is that human intelligence developed as a way of coping with large and complicated social groups, and that this is also true of cetaceans - the group of sea mammals that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. 

According to Lori Marino, a biologist specialising in whales, "The parts of the brain that are involved with processing emotion and social relationships are enormously complex, and in many cetaceans even more highly elaborate than in the human brain."

Brian Skerry, a photojournalist who spent three years studying the creatures, was amazed by what he discovered:

"Whales behave differently depending on where they live - much like humans. They form clans with unique dialectsForms of a language used by a specific region or social group. or languages. They develop cultural food preferences... They even hold singing competitions."

Some whale species, he adds, give their calves names and greet each other when they meet. "They show love, empathy and grief. Family is immensely important to them."

Skerry was also astonished to see beluga whales playing a game with each other. One would take a small rock in its mouth, carry it for a while, and then drop it - at which point another in the family would pick it up.

Humans, he believes, can learn from this: "The moments we spend with our loved ones are often the most treasured and meaningful... Just as belugas do, in between the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, it's essential for us to make time for other things - things that bring joy."

Yes: Whales remind us of the most important things in life, such as having a good relationship with your family - and also our responsibility to free the ocean from pollution and plastic waste.

No: Every species has evolved differently so that it can thrive in its own particular environment. Life in our modern technological society could not be more different from a whale's life in the sea.

Or... Dolphins and porpoises would be better teachers. They also have cetacean intelligence, but because they are much smaller than whales people can swim and develop a relationship with them.