Slashdot Mirror
Unique Howls Are What Wolves Use As Names
notscientific writes "Each wolf has a unique howl, which scientists can now decipher through voice recognition (audio), allowing them to identify wolves individually. The scientists developed sound analysis code that can tell which wolf is howling with 100% accuracy. Previously, pitch was used to tell wolves apart, but these only achieved a relatively low accuracy rate. This sound analysis is important because it could well give researchers the first proper way to effectively monitor wolves in the wild. Interestingly, this research comes after the recent finding that dolphins have names for one another. In the case of wolves, their howls are essentially their names."
Reminds me of this far side cartoon -- http://bit.ly/12lglUc
Wolf howl identification technology excites experts http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/23263266 and on a lighter note Wolves Munch Watermelons to Beat the Heat: Photos http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/wolves-munch-watermelons-photos-130723.htm via http://www.metafilter.com/130297/Wolf-Watermelon-Party
Because imitating each others' howls would sound like a very confusing thing to do.
A name is something OTHERS use to identify you. If I read the summary right (no need to read that article), they are not suggesting that OTHER wolves are imitating a howl to identify another wolf.
Said differently: the howl is like a fingerprint (although an audible one) in that it can be used to identify the owner of said howl.
Moon Moon!
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.
Unique Howls Are What Wolves Use As Names
First of all, strange wording - I'd have gone with "Wolves Use Unique Howls As Names."
More importantly, no-one - except for a commenter on one of the articles - is suggesting that wolves use these as names. You could get 50 people to stand on a hill and shout "I love monkeys!" and still get a computer to tell them apart, but that wouldn't be a name.
Even more bizarre is the headline on the linked article:
Wolves howl like humans, new voice recognition study shows
Er, what? No they don't. They howl like wolves.
The scientists developed sound analysis code
Might want to fix that link.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
What would "Bobby" sound like in wolf howl language?
Is probably what they're saying most of the time. At the risk of sounding trite, I expect that the return howls are mostly just 'So glad you are!'.
They're not discussing Plato or the recipe for fondue, they're wolves. If there's any content in the howl it's going to be things like 'I'm hungry!' or 'Who wants some?' or 'Deer party at Blacktail's den!'
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
FWIW, wolves do emit different types of howl - a given wolf won't produce the same howl each time.
Although nobody can say for sure what the meaning is, wolves will make different types of howl if they're separated from their pack, if they've completed a kill, if they're about to "rally" with the pack and, interestingly, if a wolf dies.
For general howling, then yes, it's been known about for years that you can identify a given wolf by their howl. My old adopted wolf Kenai (who lived at the same wolf centre as the original research author used for their studies) had a very recognizable two-tone howl.
>> their howls are essentially their names
And the scent of peein' on stuff is their nickname.
There's a difference between an unscientific and subjective observation; and an objective, automated, and unsupervised classification system for individual wolf howls.
My old adopted wolf Kenai (who lived at the same wolf centre as the original research author used for their studies) had a very recognizable two-tone howl.
Probably trying to hack the telephone system (DTMF).
Dolphin story debunked (twice):
Dolphin naming?
Dolphins using personal names, again
I'm going to assume that the wolf story is as much nonsense.
You won't hear a wolf bark very often (and it tends to be distinct "wuff"s rather than a long, continuous series of barks - Mosi at the UKWCT barks if a particular person comes into the centre) but certainly with howls you can that there are different scenarios. For example, the wolves at the UKWCT will do long chorus howls when the nearby church bells ring, but if you take one particular wolf out she'll howl a few times when she's out of sight of the other wolves - presumably to let them know she's still around. If the wolves are feeling playful, they'll sometimes "rally" (which is a real cacophony, you can hear one of my recordings on the wolf page on Wiki, which someone has labelled "rallying cry"). Before the rally properly starts they'll howl, but the pitch varies rather than being a pure note.
Fun fact: when I played one of the wolf howl recordings I'd made, the oscilloscope on WinAmp showed a perfect sine wave for a few seconds. I was impressed!
It's not a name unless a second wolf uses the howl to "talk" about the first wolf to another wolf (even the first wolf in case the second wolf wants a specific wolf to come to its location).
you are camping and hear "ooowaaaaaahooooooGary".
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Great, so they've learned to recognize individual wolf voices, what does that have to do with names? A name, like any noun, is an abstract representation of someone(thing) not present. Dolphins each have a distinct whistle that other dolphins use to attract their attention - which seems an awful lot like a name to me. In this case all they've done is figure out which wolf is "talking", and recognizing the voices of important individuals is something we know pretty much every vocal species does - parents and offspring almost always, and often mates and other family members as well.
Oh, and sorry for hijacking your comment.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
they keep saying their own names, or referring to themselves in the third person, like Jimmy from Seinfeld. Awesome. Or maybe this is a bullshit story. Awesome.
Hello *sniff * sniff * my name is Larry.
Here's my business turd.
Sniff me up sometime.
Meanwhile, between howls, I'll be off on the prairie spit shining my junk.
**aahhhooooowwwwww**
Or else he's calling for Little Red Riding Hood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM8_v4AwltM
The links you posted did nothing to "debunk" the idea of Dolphins using language as the person admits they're not a zoologist only a language blogger who has at most read a few news articles on the subject of dolphin's language abilities.
Wrong. If you want to show that something is language, then you need a linguist, not a biologist. The zoologist can do the recording, but doesn't know what a linguist knows about language. And contrary to your assertion, the linked-to bloggers (Geoff Pullum and Mark Liberman) are both PhD linguists, in fact well known among linguists. (And just in case you're wondering, my BS is in zoology, and my PhD is in linguistics.)
...given the neurological complexity of the brains of dolphins and whales, which is comparable to humans
Wrong again.