14 DAY TRIAL // Killer whales, otherwise known as orcas, have the ability to learn how to “talk” like bottlenose dolphins, wildlife researchers write in a paper recently published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
More precisely, it appears that, when face to face with such marine mammals, killer whales switch to producing a new set of sounds that closely resemble the ones bottlenose dolphins make when interacting with one another.
As explained by specialist Whitney Musser with the University of San Diego and Dr. Ann Bowles with the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, this suggests that cetaceans resort to vocal imitation to kick their social life up a notch.
Regular killer whale “talk”
In their paper in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, the scientists behind this research project say that killer whales communicate with one another by means of clicks, whistles and pulsed calls, Science Daily informs.
Interestingly enough, evidence at hand indicates that different orca groups use distinct so-called dialects when communicating. Thus, the duration, the pitch and the pulse pattern of the clicks, whistles and pulsed calls these animals produce vary across social groups.
Learning to talk like dolphins
Wildlife researcher Whitney Musser and Dr. Ann Bowles say that, having analyzed recordings of the sounds produced by orcas living alongside bottlenose dolphins, they found that the killer whales adapted their speech to that of their companions.
The study focused on three killer whales, all of which were found to have started producing more clicks and whistles and fewer pulsed calls when in the same social group as bottlenose dolphins. As explained by the scientists, this new dialect closely resembled that of the dolphins.
What's more, one of the orcas whose vocal repertoire was analyzed as part of this investigation was found to have learned how to produce a chirp sequence that its fellow bottlenose dolphins had previously been taught how to make by their trainers.
“Killer whales seem to be really motivated to match the features of their social partners,” orca enthusiast Dr. Ann Bowles with the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute commented on the outcome of this research project.
Importance of this study
Admittedly, the fact that they can mimic the vocal repertoire of bottlenose dolphins does not mean that killer whales have the same language skills as humans. The find does, however, indicate that these marine mammals are well equipped to process new information and react to it.
Although scientists are yet to figure out how and why orcas developed this ability to switch between vocal repertoires, it is believed that this behavior has something to do with the marine mammal's need to make sure they are not isolated when in new territories and social groups.