Captive Beluga Was Able To Mimic Speech

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Captive Beluga Was Able To Mimic Speech

Posted by Unknown on Monday October 22, 2012 @10:50AM from the must-eat-the-humans dept.

ananyo writes "'Who told me to get out?' asked a diver, surfacing from a tank in which a whale named NOC lived. The beluga's caretakers had heard what sounded like garbled phrases emanating from the enclosure before, and it suddenly dawned on them that the whale might be imitating the voices of his human handlers. The outbursts began in 1984 and lasted for about four years, until NOC hit sexual maturity. NOC likely learned to imitate humans by listening to them speak underwater and on the surface. The whale's human-like calls are several octaves lower than normal whale calls, a similar pitch to human speech. Researchers trained NOC to 'speak' on command, and determined that he makes the sounds by increasing the pressure of the air that courses through his nasal cavities. They think that he then modified the sounds by manipulating the shape of his phonic lips, small vibrating structures that sit above each nasal cavity. A recording of NOC's speech is embedded in the story. He sounds remarkably like a kazoo."

70 of 103 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

He was really saying... by rjshirts · 2012-10-22 10:56 · Score: 5, Funny

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."
1. Re:He was really saying... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 11:33 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Or he was saying:
  "Ahhh! Woooh! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? Okay okay, calm down calm down get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? Its a sort of tingling in my... well I suppose I better start finding names for things. Lets call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail!..."
2. Re:He was really saying... by jrumney · 2012-10-22 17:37 · Score: 1
  
  "I can haz caviarrrrr?"
3. Re:He was really saying... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 18:14 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  That's because you never read The Guide. http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0007558/quotes Infinite Improbability FTW!
4. Re:He was really saying... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 19:32 · Score: 1
  
  Whoooooooooooooooosh.
  If you are on Slashdot then you should recognise a Douglas Adams quotation, please hand in your geek card on the way out.
5. Re:He was really saying... by AchilleTalon · 2012-10-22 20:25 · Score: 1
  
  Bah! It's nothing, the other day I saw a sponge on a TV show which was capable to speak and understand the human language.
  
  --
  Achille Talon
  Hop!
6. Re:He was really saying... by nospam007 · 2012-10-22 21:09 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed. I have a bird that talks better than me and it has only a brain the size of a pea.
  Don't know what that says about me.
7. Re:He was really saying... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 21:57 · Score: 1
  
  This is what the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has to say about the original post. "The original post was not funny, despite the desperate attempt to make a connection to a popular work of comedic fiction on the part of its author. It was, however, only not funny because a Beluga is a species of whale, not any kind of dolphin."
  The article goes on to say, "It is well known that Beluga whales are the only kind of Earth whale that eats caviar, hence the name. They became extinct, however, when the Earth was destroyed one Thursday afternoon, by a fleet of Vogon Constructor spacecraft, to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. When the Earth Mark II was produced, however, like the dolphins, Beluga whales were also absent, but that is only because one of the Magrathean Marine Mamals Designers had lost the template. As punishment, he was forced to eat caviar."
  * And that's my tribute to D.N.A. *
  Some dolphins, and a sperm whale, are briefly characters in the Hitchhiker's Guide Trilogy, by T.L.G.A. D.N.A. (That's "The Late, Great Author, Douglas Noel Adams.") In the fourth book of the trilogy, (yes, fourth...) just before they disappear from the Earth, a dolphin communicated a last message from all dolphin-kind to human kind. It was a warning about the Earth's impending doom, but It was misinterpreted as "a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the "Star Spangled Banner", but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish."
  Incidentally, "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish" is also the title of the fourth book.
  The sperm whale had been brought suddenly into being in the place of one of two nuclear missiles that had been streaking toward a certain spaceship, at a staggeringly high level of improbability. As this is the case, it has very little time to come to grips with its existence, as it was brought into being high above a distant, alien world. The first reply to the original post is paraphrased or quoted from the eponymous first book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. The original in the book constitutes a record of the whale's thoughts as it falls to its death on the planet below. It didn't actually SAY anything.
  The thoughts however, do imply amazing clarity and depth of thought for a creature that has only existed for t seconds. The duration, "t" is time after the creation of the whale in seconds, that has a domain of t=0 to the value of t when h=0, in the function h ( t ) = - ( 1 / 2 ) * g * t ^ 2 + v {initial} t + h {initial}, where t is time in seconds, g is the geometric mean of the force of gravity between h {initial} and the local surface acceleration on the planet Magrethea, v {initial} is the velocity the nuclear missile had at just the moment of transmutation, and h {initial} is the altitude above Magrathea where the nuclear missile was transmuted into the sperm whale by the Heart of Gold's Infinite Improbability Drive.
  If you have never read the trilogy, nor heard the radio show the books were based upon, nor saw the BBC miniseries based on whichever, you are unlikely to find any of this even remotely funny. If you have, hopefully it at least brought a smile to your face.
8. Re:He was really saying... by silentcoder · 2012-10-22 23:29 · Score: 1
  
  >the human language. ...the what ? You're aware that the species known as "homo sapience" or colloquially "human" have more than one language right ?
  
  --
  Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
9. Re:He was really saying... by Dunbal · 2012-10-22 23:47 · Score: 2
  
  Since you have obviously never read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (no, seeing the movie is not enough and even then this famous quote was in the movie), you are just pretending to be a nerd. To quote a famous whale: Get out.
  
  --
  Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
10. Re:He was really saying... by colesw · 2012-10-23 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  I've seen said sponge speak in English, Spanish, Chinese, and other various "human" languages, so I don't think OP was that wrong :)
Sounds like the Swedish Chef by tomhath · 2012-10-22 10:57 · Score: 1

Even gave the handlers a raspberry at the end.
obligatory by corychristison · 2012-10-22 11:03 · Score: 1

I for one welcome our speech mimicing beluga whale overlords.
Re:naval cavity? by 19thNervousBreakdown · 2012-10-22 11:03 · Score: 4, Funny

Whoever taught you Eskimo kisses played a mean joke.

--
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
Naval cavities? by Gary · 2012-10-22 11:06 · Score: 1

Whoa! Not only can he talk, but he does it through his belly button!
1. Re:Naval cavities? by TapeCutter · 2012-10-22 16:36 · Score: 1
  
  Unsurpising on a site where everyone talks out of their arse ;)
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Freshly+Exhumed · 2012-10-22 11:10 · Score: 1

Across many species the ability to mimic other creatures is commonplace. In this case, the notion that the beluga was "trained" makes it difficult to assess whether there was actual comprehension of the meaning and/or purpose of the mimicked sound(s). This makes the story nothing more than a parallel to circus-trained animal stories.

--
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
1. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 11:29 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Across many species the ability to mimic other creatures is commonplace. In this case, the notion that the beluga was "trained" makes it difficult to assess whether there was actual comprehension of the meaning and/or purpose of the mimicked sound(s). This makes the story nothing more than a parallel to circus-trained animal stories.
  Considering NOC (the beluga) provided the stimulus and the human diver got out of the tank, I agree with you.
  NOC has those divers trained like circus animals. I doubt they comprehend the beluga's pleasure at seeing them perform.
2. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Riceballsan · 2012-10-22 11:40 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed, though I suppose it is also worth noting, marine mammals are believed to possibly have comparably complex language system to humans. Of course similar could be said of parrots etc... while they don't have a complex language of their own, one can certainly teach parrots to identify and name hundreds of items etc... Of course teaching syntax etc... that may be more difficult, as far as I know only apes have that capability.
3. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by tverbeek · 2012-10-22 12:11 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I see no reason to think from this that the beluga had any comprehension of human speech; the sounds he produced don't seem to have any real meaning, and I'm skeptical that he could have discerned any meaning in the sounds of humans talking to each other from the limited context of them.
  However... given the brain capacity of the animal (greater than a simple mimic like a parrot), I do wonder whether he was actually making a crude, conscious attempt to communicate. He may have been adjusting his pitch and sounds to match what he was hearing, in much the same way that stupid humans will speak their own language with a foreign accent when trying to communicate with someone who speaks another language, or in the same way that humans will bark or meow at pets, in a playful attempt at communicating with them in their own language. That is, he may have figured out that these sounds humans make are a form of (possibly intelligent) communication – much like we figured out the same regarding whale songs – and he was trying to show that he understood that fact by making similar sounds.
  
  --
  http://alternatives.rzero.com/
4. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by 0111+1110 · 2012-10-22 13:00 · Score: 1
  
  Who are you calling a simple mimic? Parrots have been shown to understand concepts. To have the ability to generalize from concrete instances. To create abstractions. Categories. And possibly to plan for the future as well.
  
  --
  Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
5. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Kittenman · 2012-10-22 13:26 · Score: 2
  
  Who are you calling a simple mimic? Parrots have been shown to understand concepts. To have the ability to generalize from concrete instances. To create abstractions. Categories. And possibly to plan for the future as well.
  Citation needed.
  
  In 'Broca's Brain', Carl Sagan mentioned that the great apes (uh . not us) can learn sign language and communicate with us in that shared language - even to the extent of creating phrases for 'duck' (Water-bird). Now that is understanding concepts, etc.
  
  Parrots? I don't buy it. Yet.
  
  --
  "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
6. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 13:57 · Score: 1
  
  You never saw Alex?
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXoTaZotdHg
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29
7. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by 0111+1110 · 2012-10-22 14:45 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Google Irene Pepperberg and Alex the African Grey. IIRC, Alex tested at about the same level as a 2 year old human.
  
  --
  Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
8. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 16:27 · Score: 1
  
  Beautiful plumage too.
9. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by OhANameWhatName · 2012-10-22 16:51 · Score: 1
  
  It was actually a complex experiment from which the whale was attempting to discern if it's human servants were capable of intelligent thought.
10. Re:Rote Mimicry vs Comprehension? by TapeCutter · 2012-10-22 16:54 · Score: 2
  
  You were trained to speak english by your parents, does that make you a circus animal? Do you comprehend the noises you make? Actually don't answer that, I have no way of knowing if your answer is just another trained response.that comkes from being taught that humans have "special" abilities that are not found elsewhere in the natural world.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Brutus? by Camron · 2012-10-22 11:15 · Score: 1

I wonder if this will happen.
Bork, bork, bork! by chihowa · 2012-10-22 11:18 · Score: 2

It's a swedish fish!

--
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
1. Re:Bork, bork, bork! by Buchenskjoll · 2012-10-22 18:21 · Score: 1
  
  You are absolutely right, except it isn't a fish, and it isn't Swedish.
  
  --
  -- Make America hate again!
Re:Sounds Like He's Singing by newcastlejon · 2012-10-22 11:24 · Score: 2

... anyone remember SeaQuest DSV? ;)
Yes, I do now.
Thanks~

--
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Re:Creepy... by mosb1000 · 2012-10-22 11:34 · Score: 4, Informative

I just had to imagine some deep rumbling voice warning the air-breathers to leave his aquatic home.
Beluga whales, like all marine mammals, breathe air.
What Interests Me Is When It Stopped by guttentag · 2012-10-22 11:35 · Score: 3, Funny

The outbursts began in 1984 and lasted about four years, until NOC hit sexual maturity.
If only people were like that: all talk until they hit sexual maturity and suddenly realize they don't know anything. People just keep on talking, as evidenced by the slashdot crowd, who... Oh... wait. This explains so much...
1. Re:What Interests Me Is When It Stopped by Darinbob · 2012-10-22 13:23 · Score: 1
  
  It's like human children. They start off admiring and imitating their parents. Then one day upon reaching puberty they realize that parents are dorks who don't understand them.
2. Re:What Interests Me Is When It Stopped by snspdaarf · 2012-10-22 13:38 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but the whale stopped talking.
  
  --
  Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
Not a bad stunt... by Millennium · 2012-10-22 11:40 · Score: 1

...but could it say "Jesus is watching you"?
So Let's See If I Got This Right... by avgjoe62 · 2012-10-22 11:48 · Score: 5, Funny

We have a whale, another species on this planet, use human speech and the first thing he says is, essentially, "Get off my damn lawn, kid."

--
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
1. Re:So Let's See If I Got This Right... by Dunbal · 2012-10-23 00:00 · Score: 1
  
  Best bit is whales are talking to us before we can manage to talk to them. And we think WE are the intelligent ones...
  
  --
  Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Re:Ah yes, but what else can he mimic? by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2012-10-22 11:50 · Score: 1

He can't do Mariachi, but he's quite popular on Karaoke night at the nearby watering hole.

--
#DeleteChrome
Speciesism... by Lord_of_the_nerf · 2012-10-22 11:51 · Score: 2

I think we've discovered the Alexandra Wallace of the whale world.
NOC? -- Unleash the Acronyms by Penurious+Penguin · 2012-10-22 11:53 · Score: 3, Interesting

While I've spoken with many Narwhals Orating Cryptically, this is one Narratively Ostentatious Cetacean I'd really like to have a word with.

--
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
1. Re:NOC? -- Unleash the Acronyms by dissy · 2012-10-22 12:38 · Score: 1
  
  And here I was wondering exactly how they fit the whale into the network operation center!
2. Re:NOC? -- Unleash the Acronyms by Penurious+Penguin · 2012-10-22 13:32 · Score: 1
  
  Apparently someone had to write a Nautical Object Compression GUI interface, probably in Visual Basic.
  
  --
  Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
Good for NOC by slick7 · 2012-10-22 11:55 · Score: 1, Interesting

If NOC learns to speak like a human, maybe we will be able to communicate. Just think, we can teach him to lie, cheat, steal, revel in the suffering of others. Wait until he gets a load of our politicians. GO NOC!

--
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
1. Re:Good for NOC by infinitelink · 2012-10-22 12:11 · Score: 1
  
  ...revel in the suffering of others...
  Killer whales like to torture baby seals in training their young to hunt: they are quite capable in reveling in suffering, if what looks like play (serious training, but play nonetheless) by them, when they are training young (just as we train young in "play", and enjoy it) is also "play" to them.
  
  --
  Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
2. Re:Good for NOC by l0ungeb0y · 2012-10-22 12:49 · Score: 1
  
  Do you also hold hopes of having intelligent conversations with a parrot or mocking bird?
  There's a huge difference between mimicking sounds and understanding linguistics.
3. Re:Good for NOC by torsmo · 2012-10-22 18:04 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it can't bloody learn anymore. It died, in 2007.
4. Re:Good for NOC by slick7 · 2012-10-23 12:02 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it can't bloody learn anymore. It died, in 2007.
  The real question is, you're still alive what have you learned?
  
  --
  The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Gehhhhht Ouuuut! by Culture20 · 2012-10-22 12:03 · Score: 1

Sure, blame it on the whale. We all know it was a poltergeist.
New Ringtone by MoonRabbit · 2012-10-22 12:09 · Score: 1

that's sure to annoy my coworkers.
Parrots: relax by circletimessquare · 2012-10-22 12:18 · Score: 4, Funny

While the Beluga are aquatic, probably smarter, and definitely cuter than you, they are unlikely to replace you in the hearts of you pirate brethren.
Mainly because at 5.5 meters (18 feet) long and at 1,600 kg (3,500 pounds), they do not fit on the shoulder of your average pirate.
However, it is likely that the elder pirate gods, in their watery realm, prefer Beluga companions over parrots

--
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
1. Re:Parrots: relax by circletimessquare · 2012-10-22 12:47 · Score: 1
  
  the average beluga has a vocabulary size of 6.3 picoLoCs
  
  --
  intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
2. Re:Parrots: relax by mevets · 2012-10-22 13:00 · Score: 1
  
  | While the Beluga are aquatic, probably smarter...
  Probably smarter? They learned how to speak our language before we learned theirs! Despite us unleashing an army of scientists and amusement park employees on them; we still have to use whistles, and they have figured out what we mean when we blow them.
  Just imitating us? Donâ(TM)t think so - the diver thought he heard âoeGet Outâ. There was a documentary made about a house that said that to a nice family. It didnâ(TM)t end well.
Priorities! by Guppy06 · 2012-10-22 12:25 · Score: 1

until NOC hit sexual maturity.
"Screw learning a foreign language, I wanna meet girls!"
whimsical but relevant: by circletimessquare · 2012-10-22 12:34 · Score: 1

mariachi beluga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_6-IwMPjM

--
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Better than my NOC by funkboy · 2012-10-22 12:37 · Score: 1

All my NOC knows how to do is open tickets, escalate them to engineering, wake me up in the middle of the night for false alerts, and generally annoy customers.
Plus this cetacean NOC works for fish! Where can I sign up to get him on board?
1. Re:Better than my NOC by Sulphur · 2012-10-22 14:27 · Score: 1
  
  All my NOC knows how to do is open tickets, escalate them to engineering, wake me up in the middle of the night for false alerts, and generally annoy customers.
  Plus this cetacean NOC works for fish! Where can I sign up to get him on board?
  Plus this cetacean NOC works for scale! Where can I sign up to get him on board?
Whale speech by snspdaarf · 2012-10-22 13:42 · Score: 1

Play it backwards, and it sounds like "I buried Paul".

--
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
Sounds like by PenquinCoder · 2012-10-22 14:27 · Score: 1

Batman to me.... Who gave this whale youtube access??
Re:Sounds Like He's Singing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 15:32 · Score: 1

It's actually a sarcastimark, and it's a thing. Get used to it. (It really does come in handy, and there's nothing else that does the job so easily and succinctly.)
Re:Sounds Like He's Singing by TapeCutter · 2012-10-22 16:30 · Score: 4, Funny

anyone remember SeaQuest DSV? ;)
Thanks, I was in the process of repurposing those neurons, now I have to start all over again.

--
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Re:naval cavity? by Anubis+IV · 2012-10-22 16:38 · Score: 1

Okay, first off, sounds made with noses are not called farts. Farts come from the other end of a mammal's anatomy.
More importantly, what the hell is a naval cavity? Is it like a whirlpool? The Mariana Trench? A misspelled reference to a hole in your belly? I thought you might have meant "nasal", but then you went and called it "naval" in the body of your post as well, so I guess I was wrong.
He was tying to say... by uvajed_ekil · 2012-10-22 17:00 · Score: 1

"Let me out, you stupid fucks."

It's a shame the Beluga accent makes "out" sound like "eat" in English. And so the response to everything he did was to give him fish.

--
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
How is that news?! by bickerdyke · 2012-10-22 19:13 · Score: 1

Dolphins, whales.. where's teh difference.
Come back when you have real fish talking.

--
bickerdyke
What's with the past tense? by wonkey_monkey · 2012-10-22 19:30 · Score: 1

Captive Beluga Was Able To Mimic Speech
That makes it sound like he's dead.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
1. Re:What's with the past tense? by Huluvu · 2012-10-22 22:27 · Score: 1
  
  From TFA: “Those looking to hear NOC for themselves will have to settle for these recordings. He died several years ago.” Maybe that’s why.
2. Re:What's with the past tense? by wonkey_monkey · 2012-10-22 22:57 · Score: 1
  
  Aww. Which does raise the question of why we're only hearing about this now...
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
3. Re:What's with the past tense? by Huluvu · 2012-10-23 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  It was mentioned in an article in Current Biology’s latest issue http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(12)01009-3, picked up by the mainstream media and thus went news-viral I suppose.
Re:Sounds Like He's Singing by X0563511 · 2012-10-23 03:59 · Score: 1

No. You don't get to repurpose typemarks just because you feel like it.
You may understand what you want, but we won't.
After all: Am I asking a question right now! (doesn't work does it?)

--
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
It could have been worse... by freeze128 · 2012-10-23 04:29 · Score: 1

"Take your filthy paws of me you damn dirty ape!"