Wikie: The first human-speaking whale in human history

The whale can say "hello", "bye bye" and count from 1 to 3 in English. Can you believe it?

It is not too strange for animals to mimic human language. Parrots, baboons, even crows can do it.

But believe it, a whale girl - rather (orca or killer whale) can do it. Please introduce Wikie - a 16-year-old killer whale who lives in a French marine park. She became the first fish to be able to speak human language.

Don't believe it, watch the video right now:

Strictly speaking, the "human language" that Wikie emits is not from the mouth, but from the blow hole typical of the top of the whale species. The sound was very similar to the sound of flute, but it could be understood as English words.

According to experts, they have taught Wikie to mimic human words. She can say "hello", "bye bye" , count from 1-3 in English. She even imitated the intonation of the teacher.

Wikie is blowing water to emit human-like words.

"Gray parrots have also shown their ability to imitate human language. But in mammals, this is extremely rare," said study author Dr. Jose Abramson from the University of Madrid. (Whales, dolphins are all animals, not fish).

Indeed, although birds with a characteristic tongue structure can easily simulate complex sounds, for mammals, this is a very rare skill. Even in primates - the closest beings to humans - no one can do it.

According to Abramson, he made this study based on the potential signs of killer whales. In nature, this animal is capable of "barking" like a sea lion, or imitating the high-frequency whistling sounds of dolphins. And now, Wikie is the first killer whale who can imitate human sounds.

To conduct research, Wikie has been instructed to mimic two types of sounds. The first is that of another killer whale, Moana - who is also Wikie's "daughter" and then human.

Some argue that whale's ability is merely imitation.

Experts also use specialized software to assess the sound of Wikie. And surprisingly, human words are rated "very coincidentally".

"Although the subject cannot perfectly simulate all the words that are taught, it is very easy to identify with the unrelated evaluator."

Even, according to Abramson, Wikie sees some sounds emitted by unfriendly killer whales are more difficult to imitate than human words.

Some argue that whale's ability is merely imitation. However, there are also experts who believe that this shows that killer whales have the social communication ability of higher organisms.

"With human intellect, culture and social communication are the most important. This study shows that killer whales are similar - they have very developed social intelligence."