Killer whale learns to imitate human speech

(KUTV) — Researchers have taught a 14-year-old killer whale to imitate human speech, according to a journal titled Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The female whale, named Wikie, is well-trained and has been taught how to copy behaviors in a previous study.

“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. “But we were surprised by how close it was.”

The researchers wanted to learn how capable whales are of imitating noises, so that they could better understand how whales learn in their natural habitats.

"In addition to human sounds, Wikie was exposed to noises made by another killer whale to see if she was capable of imitating them," Independent reports.

After hearing the whale or human sound, Wikie was asked to reproduce them by her trainer, saying "do this."

Wikie's 3-year-old calf, named Moana, was taught to make five unique sounds that could then be used to test his mother.

Human sounds were believed to be suitably different from the killer whale's normal repertoire of sounds that they might provide a more advanced test of her ability to imitate.

In order to determine whether the original noises and Wikie's versions matched, the scientists asked human judges to decide, and then ran computer algorithms to give a more objective assessment of the similarities.

"Imitating vocal sounds in this way is a key component of language, and the ability to do so is rare in animals besides humans," Independent reports.

Despite other primates' intelligence, they are not generally able to perform such imitations. However, cetaceans — the mammal group in which dolphins and whales are categorized — are known to be very skilled when it comes to vocal imitation. Both bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales have been observed imitating noises to which they are exposed.

In the wild, different killer whale groups have been found to have their own unique "dialects," and have been documented imitating noises made by other species.

“They have even been known to imitate bottlenose dolphins and sea lions,” said Dr Abramson.

“We still don't fully understand why some animals learn to mimic, but there are a few possibilities," said Dr Alex Thornton, a senior lecturer in cognitive evolution at the University of Exeter who was not involved in the study.

According to Dr. Thornton, some animals imitate for the purpose of deception, while others do it to impress potential mates.

“In some cases copying sounds might help to identify an individual as a member of a group," he said, explaining the dialects of whales help to identify them as members of a specific group.

The researchers believe the ability of Wikie to imitate new noises could shed some light on the process by which whales copy the sounds they hear in the wild, and acquire dialects.

Although the study was confined to just one individual, Dr. Abramson stated that it was a good indicator of what these whales are capable of doing.

“We are looking at what these animals can do,” said Dr Abramson. “There is evidence of vocal imitation in the wild, and this provides experimental evidence that supports that.”