SF News – Dolphins are the only known living creatures, besides humans, that actually call out each other by names, says a study done by Royal Society. The animals have been observed to use specific names to summon loved once fallen separate.
Rather than words in humans, Dolphins use their whistling techniques to call each other.
The research, done on a special kind of the species known as bottlenose dolphins showed that the animals produced a special “signature whistle” encoding information about themselves. But when they mean to call another dolphin, they reproduce the “signature whistle” of that specific dolphin.
Researchers collected acoustic data on the animals in the wild at Sarasota Bay from 1984 until 2009 and also complemented by information collected on four male dolphins at the Florida Seas Aquarium.
“A dolphin emits its signature whistle to broadcast its identity and announce its presence, allowing animals to identify one another over large distances and for animals to recognize one another and to join up with each other,” said a researcher.
Dolphins then copy the signature whistles of those they are associated with. The copies vary from the original uniquely, so they don’t simply copy but they add a sort of their own tone of voice to it.
Although it is far from human system of communication via sound, dolphins do have a complex and sophisticated one as well.
