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Killer Whales Caught On Tape Speaking Dolphin

Posted by samzenpus on from the losing-the-accent dept.

sciencehabit writes Two years ago, scientists showed that dolphins imitate the sounds of whales. Now, it seems, whales have returned the favor. Researchers analyzed the vocal repertoires of 10 captive orcas, three of which lived with bottlenose dolphins and the rest with their own kind. Of the 1551 vocalizations these seven latter orcas made, more than 95% were the typical pulsed calls of killer whales. In contrast, the three orcas that had only dolphins as pals busily whistled and emitted dolphinlike click trains and terminal buzzes, the scientists report in the October issue of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The findings make orcas one of the few species of animals that, like humans, is capable of vocal learning (video)—a talent considered a key underpinning of language."

9 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Loosely translated: by halivar · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Hey buddy. Hey pal. You wanna come swim in my tank? Come jump on over, my tasty friend. We have lots of fish to fill your delicious belly."

    1. Re:Loosely translated: by Mal-2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dolphin to Orca: Hey man, you need to get checked out. It looks like you blew a seal.

      Orca to Dolphin: Nope, it's just ice cream.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  2. I wonder, what they are saying... by mi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are they thanking us for all the fish?.. I'm worried now...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  3. Re:Whales and Daulphins - blowholes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fascinating, but why are you submitting your third grade science homework to Slashdot?

  4. Sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Taped evidence is inadmissable without a warrant.

  5. Re:Whales? by mrbester · · Score: 3, Funny

    Your mom gets enough publicity as it is...

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  6. Re:Orcas are dolphins! by mrbester · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can see their lips move.

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  7. Most likely use of cross-race communication by idontgno · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pickup lines by male Orcas.

    "Hey, Baby, you've heard about Orcas, right? We're whales, Honey, and I do mean that in every way. Yeah. Once you've gone black and white, you never go back. And white."

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  8. Re:Whales? by Arancaytar · · Score: 5, Funny

    [cetacean needed]