Dolphins Call Each Other by Name
by Jennifer Viegas
Bottlenose dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds.
Other than humans, the dolphins are the only animals known to do this, according to the study, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The big difference with bottlenose dolphins is that these communications consist of whistles, not words.
Earlier research found that bottlenose dolphins name themselves, with dolphins having a “signature whistle” that encodes other information. It would be somewhat like a human shouting, “Hey everybody! I’m an adult healthy male named George, and I mean you no harm!”
The new finding is that bottlenose dolphins also say the names of certain other dolphins…
(read more: Discovery News) (photo: Borat Furlan)
