Killer Whales Caught On Tape Speaking Dolphin

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."

Comments

Whales?

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't Orcas dolphins?

Re:Whales?

[jklovanc]

They both belong to the same family

Whales and Daulphins - blowholes

[BringsApples]

These are also the only mammals (or anything for that matter) that have blowholes. They're both mammals. And both have tails that are flat horizontally rather than vertically. They both also are capable of being thankful to other species when it applies.