BEIJING - Dolphins do not whistle as previously thought. Instead, they "talk" like humans, according to a new study.
Dolphins use their noses to produce a different kind of tonal sound, just like humans do when speaking [particularly evident in Tonal Asian languages like Thai and Chinese], said Peter Madsen, the lead author of the study published in Royal Society Biology Letters.
Madsen studied how dolphins communicate by digitizing recordings made in 1977 of a 12-year-old male dolphin, which was made to breathe a mixture of helium and oxygen called heliox.
Scientists said humans breathing in a heliox sound like Donald Duck. According to Livescience.com, the heliox was meant to mimic conditions during a deep dive since it causes a shift up in frequency. However, when breathing in heliox, the dolphin continued to make the same sounds with the same frequency. More
Enslaved, trained dolphin takes part in an aquatic football match to entertain tourists at the Hefei Aquarium in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province in 2010 (Xinhua).
Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)
Dolphins have feelings. Dolphins rescue humans from sharks and shipwrecks. Dolphins prepare their meals. Dolphins name themselves.... It does not surprise us in the least. Is there anything these sea mammals do not do? But language is the exclusive domain of humans! So long as we believe only our brains can handle syntax, grammar, and linear retentive expression, just so long will we keep ourselves distinct from nature and its countless life forms. Animals already communicate. They already possess means of communicating exceeding ours. Extraterrestrial life forms, who gave us the languages we are so proud of as our exclusive evolutionary advantage, possess still higher and better forms of language. For instance, UFO vehicles communicate a tripartite language, and many animals can use symbols and signs. That dolphins use tones is hardly news to anyone who has interacted with these magical sea creatures.Translating dolphin communication is possible!
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