Dolphins call each other by whistling

Each dolphin has a whistling sound of its own, that 'eee e' shriek to inform other dolphins about its presence - this research has just been published in the Journal of the Association for Progress. Department of American Science (AAAS).

Dolphins are animals with excellent mimicry, even if they can mimic odd sounds emitted from computers. So scientists wonder if dolphins can mimic each other's whistles - similar to this person calling others' names.

Currently, an analysis of hundreds of dolphin whistles confirms that they can actually call each other "names" .

Analysis by marine biologist Stephanie King at St Andrews University and colleagues performed whistling recordings of over 250 wild dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Florida (USA) from 1984-2009, as well as the whistling recordings of four dolphins in the aquarium. The team also observed their behavior in detail while whistling.

Research results show that dolphins mimic other dolphin's whistles just to establish contact with a particular individual, not for the purpose of deceiving other individuals as some previous assumptions.

This research helps scientists better understand the sounds that intelligent marine animals are creating.