Killer whale learns to imitate human speech in world first (video at link)
The researchers were studying a 14-year-old female killer whale named Wikie, who was well-trained and had been taught how to copy behaviours in a previous study.
Wikie was recorded mimicking English words like hello, bye bye and one two, as well as the name of her trainer, Amy.
Killer whales use their blowhole to make noises, almost like speaking out of your nose, so we were not expecting it to be perfect, said Dr Jose Abramson, a researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid, who led the study.
<snip>
Despite their intelligence, other primates are not generally capable of such imitation.
However, cetaceans the mammal group that includes whales and dolphins are known to be highly adept when it comes to vocal imitation. Both bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales have been observed copying noises they are exposed to. - Independent UK
lapfog_1
(30,168 posts)I'll drink a lot a beer and look to the skies for the Vogon construction fleet... and be just a little upset that my electronic hailing "thumb" is missing.
ffr
(23,127 posts)Had to Google your tag line, but it comes back "constructor" fleet(s). Something I'll need to brush up on to understand no doubt.
lapfog_1
(30,168 posts)and I posted before I noticed the change. Sometimes I hate computers ( and I've been writing software for 50 years now )
lapfog_1
(30,168 posts)but no vocal cords in their throats.
"A killer whale makes sounds by moving air between nasal sacs in the blowhole region. In contrast, a human makes sound by forcing air through the larynx. The vocal cords in the larynx vibrate as air flows across them, producing sounds."
https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/killer-whale/communication-and-echolocation
much as I hate to reference seaworld for this info