Dolphins Copy Whistles to Stay in Touch

Dolphins mimic those with whom they share a strong social bond, according to a latest study.

Dolphins are known to have a unique whistle that mimics their close ones in order to get in touch with them, suggest marine biologists at the University of St. Andrews.

In order to find out why dolphins copy one another, a team of Scottish and American scientists studied the dolphin's signature whistle. It was carried out by Drs. Stephanie King and Vincent Janik from St. Andrews in collaboration with Dr. Laela Sayigh from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dr. Randall Wells from the Chicago Zoological Society and Dr. Fellner from the Walt Disney World Resort.

They were surprised to learn that these special whistles were taught to the dolphins by their mothers, and the offsprings and adult males who copied the tune were those with whom they had a long-term association. 

They came to this conclusion by analyzing the acoustic recordings from both wild and captive dolphins.

The researchers explain that the bottlenosed dolphins are the few species in the animal kingdom that use vocal learning in order to develop their own vocal signature and that too at an early stage. The unique signature describes the individual identity of the dolphin.

Prior to this, there were studies done that focused on the copying of signature whistles, but they could not figure out whether the copying was an aggressive one or a friendly signal.

But the new study reveals that dolphins mimic those who they are close to and also wish to have an association with in the future.

Dr. King was quoted in Phys.Org stating, "Interestingly, signature whistle copying was only found in pairs of animals composed of mothers and their calves or adult males who form long-term alliances with one another."

Interestingly, the dolphins make some small changes in the whistle they copy in order to avoid confusing the listeners.

Dr. King states that dolphins copy the whistle when they want to reunite with a particular dolphin.  

Using a playback of the sounds, the researchers were able to check how the dolphins responded when the signature whistle was being copied, reports Phys.org.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.