Dolphins Call One Another By Name
March 11, 2013
Marine biologists have known for years that dolphins have individual names for themselves. Their name is a signature whistle that infant dolphins learn from their mothers. Now, scientists have learned that dolphins communicate with one another using that signature whistle. A team international scientists found that when one dolphin wants to call or refer to another dolphin, it uses the whistle the dolphin uses for itself. The finding was published by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society in its journal on biology.
Like porpoises and whales, dolphins are mammals that live in water. They usually range from 4 to 32 feet (1.2 to 9.8 meters) long and weigh from 100 pounds (45 kilograms) to 10 tons (9 metric tons).
Scientists have long realized how intelligent dolphins are, but this new trait of using names is the first known instance of nonhumans using abstract names. Other animals have specific calls they use to signal information about food or predators, but these calls are inherited, not learned.
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