Dolphins call each other by name
Researchers found that bottlenose dolphins whistle for loved ones.
A new study finds that bottlenose dolphins call out the names of certain other dolphins when they become separated.
The research by the University of St. Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit in the U.K. is based on acoustic data from wild bottlenose dolphins around Sarasota Bay, Fla., from 1984 to 2009, and on the study of four captive males at The Seas Aquarium in Florida.
Previous research has found that dolphins have signature whistles for themselves, and the new research finds that dolphins who are close to them can copy their whistles to find them.
“Animals produced copies when they were separated from a close associate and this supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that specific individual,” said the study’s lead author, Stephanie King.
Bing: More dolphin news
The findings were published in the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B."
— Read it at Discovery News
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Photo: Dolphins call each other by name / Eco/UIG/Getty Images
"So long, and thanks for all the fish."
It is unfortunate but this planet would run like a finely tuned clock if humans were out of the equation. Dolphins, like many animals, are incredibly intelligent and could teach us more than a few things about our oceans and, indeed, about ourselves.
SandyToes5 (below), you had experienced a wondrous thing and most folk who read your post, like myself, wish it was us who had that interaction. We know so little of the ocean world these creatures inhabit and our destructive ways either through polluting the seas or through the melting of the ice caps will only bring more suffering to the amazing spectrum of life that lives there. Polar bears will likely be extinct, for example, within a generation or two as the polar regions of habitat melt away due to global warming.
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