Dolphins are calling on behalf of - BBC

Dolphins – the only mammals other than humans, who call each other by name. These unique whistles dolphins can not lose each other at a distance of up to one kilometer.

July 23, environmentalists all over the world celebrate World Day of whales and dolphins, holiday established in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission. On the eve of this holiday Scottish researchers published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences an article that proves that each dolphin has its own unique name.

This name – a characteristic short whistle, the so-called “whistle-signature”, often published by the same dolphin.

disappearance of canines

A mutation in the gene that controls the growth of bone and tooth tissue, which appeared in the genome of the ancestors of whales and dolphins around 30 million years ago … ?

He has been seen by scientists for a long time, it is believed that dolphins use it for self-identification. So, a few years ago, it was found that mothers patronize dolphin newborns in the first week publish this whistle a few times more than usual by teaching the kid to the fact that it was she, and not someone else – his mother.

now proved that the dolphin is not only self-signature whistles, like the name, but also responds to it.

Scottish biologists – Stephanie King and Vincent Jenik from the University of St.. Andrew – spent a proof of two summer seasons in 2001 and 2011, the years of watching the different groups of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) off the east coast of Scotland. They wrote peresvistyvaniya dolphins, and then reproduce the sounds with special underwater speakers. Play different sounds – whistles, and signature of the dolphins that were part of the group, which was broadcast, and other whistles that the signatures were not known, as well as signature whistles, dolphins from other groups with which dolphins and listeners have never met. The results showed that the dolphin responded to a whistle only when he was at his own whistle-signature, uttering at the same exact same whistle.

uttered in a human voice

Staff from the U.S. dolphin presented their research whales, who spoke with a human voice. ?

In short, there was something like a communion of people – when you call, you respond.

Dr. Jenik believes that perhaps such communication is necessary for the dolphins to keep the group at a distance sufficient for the negotiations. In the case of the Scottish dolphins scientists estimated the maximum distance of a kilometer.

«Most of the time they spend, seeing no one around, they do not have nests or burrows, where you can go under water, no smells, for which land mammals to know each other – says Jenik – so the ability to recognize each other characteristic sound is their only opportunity to not lose acquaintances ».

According Dzhenika, art naming develops in parallel in different groups of dolphins, and just as in different human groups were born different languages.
Despite the close attention to these unique creatures, scientists still do not know whether there is dolphins have a language (or languages ??of their own.) Until now, their whistles, unlike the whistler-signatures remain undeciphered – that they can be compared with the “junk” DNA is a part of that for a long time, scientists believed not the carrier of information, only recently found out its important function in the regulation of genes.

Listening to the sounds, the Scots in his article defined them as “uncharacteristic» (undistinctive) – that is, it is either very complex language, or (more probably) not a language at all.

The human ability to create custom tones for self-designation and remember similar signals generated by other members of the same species is very rare in animals. Perhaps, say the researchers, this ability is inherent in songbirds, but at the moment it is very poorly understood. In addition, they sing their own songs to encourage the female, sending an alarm or convene a school where food is found, not in order to say to the other: “I’m here!».

Scientists remind us that earlier in some species of parrots ability to communicate certain unique sound was also found, but so far it remains unclear whether these sounds are used for self-identification in his pack. They insist that the dolphins – are the only representatives of the animal world, except the people who are able to communicate in this way.