We often consider ourselves, humans, to be the chatty Kathys of the animal kingdom, with our sophisticated verbal communication setting us apart from the rest of the pack. But, as it turns out, other creatures have been having their own little pow-wows, too. Dolphins have been chattering away with their whistles and chirps for ages. Not to be outdone, their larger, more famous relatives, the killer whales, are kicking it up a notch.
Killer whales, or as they’re more fashionably known, orcas, are not just brainy but also athletic! These marine marvels can cover a whopping 40 miles a day, armed with the largest brains in the marine mammal world. And if that weren’t impressive enough, they’ve even learned a bit of slang from us humans—they can actually mimic human speech! That’s right, the ocean’s top predators are now talking back.
Imagine a world where you could wave goodbye to an orca, and it would actually say ‘bye-bye’ back? Sounds like a scene out of a sci-fi flick, right? Well, thanks to some clever researchers, this isn’t fiction anymore—it’s reality. Orcas have been taught to say words like ‘hello’ and ‘bye-bye,’ and honestly, hearing it is as delightful as it is spooky.
This aquatic chat club highlights a 2018 study published in the Journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Experts from around the globe banded together to observe just how well orcas could mimic human speech, turning the impossible into possible.
Joseph Call, a professor who knows a thing or two about evolutionary mind-bending, co-authored this incredible study. One one hand, the goal was simple enough: see just how bendy these whale wonders could get with unfamiliar noises. But on the other, the prospect of hearing an orca say ‘hello’? Now that’s a party trick no one expected!
When questioned about the orcas’ newfound talent, Joseph Call remarked, “We thought what would be really convincing is to present them with something that is not in their repertoire – and in this case ‘hello’ [is] not what a killer whale would say.” Because, let’s face it, if you ever heard a whale say hello without warning, you’d need a pretty convincing explanation.
Enter Wikie, our star pupil in this chatting expedition. A youthful 14-year-old orca, she was the first of her kind to be trained in this bewildering art. Wikie wasn’t only gifted a five-orca-sound playlist she’d never heard before. Oh no, that was just the warmup.
Her real test? A set of six human sounds, including ‘hello’, ‘Amy’, ‘ah ha’, ‘one, two’, and ‘bye bye’. Our savvy student didn’t just meet expectations; she exceeded them, nailing two of those human sounds on her very first try!
Now, maybe we’re not quite ready for a tête-à-tête with these sea giants, but each new discovery keeps pushing the boundary of what’s possible. Orcas, beautiful and mysterious, are proving they’ve got a few tricks up their metaphorical sleeves, teaching us to expect the unexpected from nature’s marvels!
