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Dolphins Recorded Having a Conversation For The First Time (telegraph.co.uk)

For the first time Russian researchers have recorded a conversation between two dolphins -- Yasha and Yana -- who were talking to each other in a pool. An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes The Telegraph: Scientists developed an underwater microphone which could distinguish the animals' different "voices" [and] have now shown that dolphins alter the volume and frequency of pulsed clicks to form individual "words" which they string together into sentences in much the same way that humans speak...

"This language exhibits all the design features present in the human spoken language, this indicates a high level of intelligence and consciousness in dolphins, and their language can be ostensibly considered a highly developed spoken language, akin to the human language... Humans must take the first step to establish relationships with the first intelligent inhabitants of the planet Earth by creating devices capable of overcoming the barriers that stand in the way of using languages and in the way of communications between dolphins and people."

The dolphins listened to an entire "sentence" before replying, according to the article, which points out that dolphin brains are larger and more complex than the brains of humans.

7 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. So, you wanna eat fish tonight? by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. "I had some great fish last night" by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dolphin 1: I know where we can get some really good fish.
    Dolphin 2: Sounds great! Why don't I go get Doris, you talk to Sheila, and we can go there and make a night of it?
    Dolphin 1: Works for me. Wanna grab some mackerel afterward?
    Dolphin 2: It's like you read my mind!
    Dolphin 1: Hey, who's the pink dork with the microphone?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  3. Re:Dolphin deciphering by OpenSourced · · Score: 5, Funny

    After deciphering, they will find out that they were saying:

    - I think they are on to us.
    - Yes, perhaps it's time to search for another planet.

    --
    Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
  4. Re:Dolphin deciphering by mobby_6kl · · Score: 4, Funny

    What they're actually saying, of course, is "So long, and thanks for all the fish".

  5. Re:Dolphins are arseholes by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Conclusion: Dolphins don't actually want to talk to us.

    Hell, I don't want to talk to humans, but the Dolphin /. is just endless threads about swimming, fish, waves, bubbles, etc...

    And don't get me started on their podcasts.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  6. Re:They aren't that bad by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 4, Funny

    We're talking about intelligent forms of life, not football players.

  7. Re:Doll. Fin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also I was programming computers when I was 7 and the thought of putting shit inside the quote marks that didn't belong there really bothered me.

    printf("why would that bother you?);"