Orca Whales Can Learn to Speak Dolphin, New Study Reveals

Scientists have made an amazing discovery while studying the ever-fascinating Orca whales. It seems like the Orca whales can learn to speak dolphin, as the recent study shows. Researchers are amazed by the fact that an animal from a species can learn the “language” of another species. The Orca whales, also known as “killer whales” have the capacity to mimic other species of marine animals.

The new study revealing that orca whales can learn to speak dolphin was done on 10 killer whales. Three of these orca whales were living together with bottlenose dolphins and the other seven lived with orca whales. Researchers observed that the three killer whales were able to mimic the sounds of dolphins to communicate with each other. These sounds are a series of clicks and whistles and other similar sounds.

The other seven orca whales communicated with their three sisters and brothers by pulses. Orca whales are known to be able to emit different sounds at different ranges. Scientists say that this is the reason why orca whales can learn to speak dolphin. They have an amazing capacity of mimicking sounds. Biologists say that the orca whales can develop a unique set of sound variations called a “dialect”. This happens when the whales are in a group and they have to communicate with each other.

The scientists are still not certain how the orca whales can adapt and learn other dialects other than their own. Whales and dolphins have the same learning capacities when talking about producing sounds. The orca whales are fast learners and adapt quickly, just like the dolphin.

Researchers believe that orca whales can learn to speak dolphin in order to communicate during their social interactions. This means that the brain of the whales adapts quickly to new situations and the whales have a high level of neural plasticity. This helps them learn and emit sounds they hear in order to understand other animal species, in this case their cousins, the dolphins.

The recent study showing that orca whales can learn to speak dolphin was published in the Journal of Acoustical Society of America.

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Anne-Marie Jackson

Anna grew up on a steady diet of 20th century literature, science-fiction movies and Viking lore. Unsurprisingly she turned into a technology geek with an inclination for history & fantasy.