Scientists have taken a historic step toward understanding dolphin communication. They’ve even exposed what appears to be evidence that these brilliant marine mammals use increasingly complex language-like exchanges. As with the BDV work, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program collaborated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Together, the three studied four long-term resident mother-calf pairs of dolphins along the coast of Sarasota, Florida. The implications of their discoveries indicate that dolphins might have advanced communication techniques that go further than single sounds.
The research team, led by Laela Sayigh from WHOI and including notable scientists such as Peter Tyack, conducted an extensive examination of dolphin vocalizations. From this, they learned that in addition to signature whistles, dolphins make non-signature whistles — forming nearly 50% of all Sarasota dolphins’ whistles. This groundbreaking research was published in the study titled “First evidence for widespread sharing of stereotyped non-signature whistle types by wild dolphins” on bioRxiv.
Innovative Research Techniques
To carry out their research, the team utilized state-of-the-art technology and a novel approach. To make these metrics as non-invasive as possible, they used suction-cup hydrophones mounted on the dolphins to collect vocalizations during specialized health assessments. These new digital acoustic tags enabled wide-ranging and thorough analysis while minimizing any interference with animals’ natural activities.
Second, playback experiments were conducted as closely as possible to natural conditions in the field. These experiments were designed to get a reaction from dolphins while playing various non-signature whistles. These results showed that one particular non-signature whistle had evolved an alarm function, triggering avoidance behaviors in the dolphins.
Laela Sayigh highlighted the significance of the long-term research conducted by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, stating, “Bottlenose dolphins have long fascinated animal communication researchers. Without the over five-decade-long study by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, we would not have such an extensive library of vocalizations for individual dolphins. With this, we’re finally able to formally study non-signature whistles — a behavior that has gotten almost no academic attention until now. Our research indicates that these whistles might operate in a linguistic capacity, comparable to words, used by many dolphins.
Recognition and Implications
The collaborative spirit of the researchers was pretty remarkable. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and partners are winners of the world’s first Coller Dolittle Challenge. Their creative new methods for understanding how dolphins communicate, in collaboration with Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, blew the judges away. Jeremy Coller, who initiated the challenge, expressed his excitement about the team’s findings: “The Coller Dolittle Challenge aims to change that, so I’m excited by the fascinating work Laela and her team have done on dolphin communication. They are winners through and through! I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how they use AI to open up new insights from this enormous data set.
As a whole, these intriguing results have important ramifications for our broader understanding of marine mammal communication and cognition. By employing novel research methods, this study provides exciting new insights into dolphin behavior. It justly implores us to think bigger—to consider how animals interact with one another on the world’s landscapes.
Future Directions
As the study continues to develop, the research community is excited to explore its findings. In the future, they hope to investigate how these findings influence models of animal communication. The documentation of non-signature whistles showcases groundbreaking new knowledge about dolphin communication. These discoveries advance our knowledge of the ways dolphins communicate and react to the world around them.
These scientists won’t stop until they decipher dolphin chit chat. In return, they are building vital and impactful projects, funded by challenges like the Coller Dolittle Challenge. As Jeremy Coller once said, that is the inconvenient truth. As we share this planet only with other nonhuman species, so too have we only told stories among ourselves for far too long. This fascinating research challenges us all to broaden the dialogue around non-human communication to improve understanding of non-human intelligences.