Dolphins use names to identify each other
Study finds that the animals only respond and react when they hear their own unique whistle
Wild bottlenose dolphins design unique signature whistles to identify themselves and answer when a close cohort calls them by their name, researchers have found.
A study of 200 bottlenose dolphins off the eastern coast of Scotland found that they are the only non-human mammals to use names to get each other's attention.
"It is the first evidence we really have of naming and labeling in the animal kingdom," said lead author Stephanie King, of the Sea Mammal Research Unit in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
It is the first evidence we really have of naming and labeling in the animal kingdom
Stephanie King, of the Sea Mammal Research Unit in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
"It draws interesting parallels between dolphin and human communication, which is something people had thought was the case but hadn't been experimentally proven until now."
Scientists have previously found that each dolphin creates its own signature whistle, or name, in the first few months of life. Then, they spend a lot of time swimming around and announcing themselves.
King said about half of a wild dolphin's whistles were its own signature whistle.
But she and co-author Vincent Janik wondered what would happen if a dolphin heard someone else calling out his or her signature whistle.