Orca Hear, Orca Speak: Whales
Can Say Words
“LONDON- Whales are known for their
impressive communications skills which allow pods to ‘talk’ to each other
through complex clicks & singing, even when they are more than 100 km
apart.
But a new experiment has shown the mammals
are also capable of mimicking human speech, a feat that was previously believed
to be limited to primates, birds, elephants, & seals.
Scientists say they have recorded a killer
whale, named Wikie, repeating the words ‘hello’ & ‘bye bye’, counting up to
3, & even saying the name of her trainer ‘Amy’.
The 14 yr. old orca lives in Marineland at
Antibes, France, & is the first in the world ever recorded by scientists
saying human words.
The achievement is even more remarkable
because whales do not have the same vocal ability as humans, having evolved to
make their own sounds underwater. While humans use the larynx to speak, whales
produce sounds through their nasal passages using bursts of air.
Recently scientists have claimed that whales
have different ‘accents’ or ‘cultures’…
In the wild, killer whales live in pods
& each has its own dialect, which includes calls that are completely
unique. Some clicks are even thought to represent names…Previously killer
whales have been observed mimicking barks of sea lions & whistles of sea
dolphins, & beluga whales have been heard apparently imitating humans, but
until now no controlled experiments have been carried out to verify reports. In
the new trial, Wikie was trained to understand a ‘copy’ signal then invited to
repeat 11 completely new sounds given by her trainer…It was given a fish or an
affectionate pat when it achieved the sound to reinforce the learning…
The researchers concluded: ‘Wikie made
recognizable copies of the demonstrated sound judged in real time by 2
observers, Wikie’s trainer & one experimenter, later confirmed by both
after listening to the recordings’.”
Sarah
Knapton
The
Daily Telegraph
In The
Gazette, Montreal
Feb.
1/2018
Cute Critter Pic
Weekly Chuckle
My sweet Snowy.
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