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Dolphins appear to talk in sentences

The research comes via the Russian Academy of Scientists from a study of Black Sea bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus.) Here a pair of dolphins were observed communicating with each other in a manner that was sophisticated, had a form of structure and is seen as akin to a sentence. Exactly what the dolphins were communicating to each other is uncertain.

Bottlenose dolphins are a common type of dolphin, living groups (or ‘pods’) typically of 10–30 members. These dolphins have a has a grey color, with the shade of grey varying among populations. Dolphins are remarkable in that they search for prey primarily using echolocation (a type of sonar).

In the recent study, the two dolphins were, International Business Time reports, observed taking it in turns to produce a series of pulses, which they believe are individual words strung together to create sentences. Spectral analysis of the recordings showed that the waveform and spectra of individual pulses changed significantly. The pulses are regarded as words and that dolphins put them together to form different sentences. The researchers put forward that dolphins create words by combining and repeating specific pulses with different frequencies, levels and spectra so they can distinguish words.

The lead researcher, Vyacheslav A Ryabov hopes that one it will be possible to develop a dolphin translator so that marine biologists can understand what dolphins are saying to each other and even for a human to communicate back to a dolphin.

The research has been published in St. Petersburg Polytechnical University Journal: Physics and Mathematics, in a paper called “The study of acoustic signals and the supposed spoken language of the dolphins.”

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Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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