Whales found to speak in dialects

New studies show that some whales sing in different dialects depending on where they're from.

Some whale species sing in different dialects depending on where they're from, a new study shows.

Blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than blue whales in the western Pacific Ocean, and these sound different than those living off Antarctica.

And they all sound different than the blue whales living near Chile.

LiveScience

Very cool, just goes to further prove how complex whales really are.
I wont be surprised if it's found out that whales are actually as smart as us, or atleast just below us.

I wonder if whales from New York have a classic New Yorker accent.


Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 1/3/2006 by iori_komei]

Great find.

Do you have a link?

...This is quite astounding - and suggests to me that whale song really is a language. But I would like to read the rest of the article.

Thanks.



edit for duh moment

[edit on 3-1-2006 by soficrow]

Yeah, sorry I thought I put in the source, but I've edited it into the origonal.
Thanks for saying something.

Got it. Thanks.

...Do you think this finding might help prove whales use language? ...And what would be the implications of that I wonder?

Do you think this finding might help prove whales use language? ...And what would be the implications of that I wonder?

Yes, I do think that it will be onbe of the things to prove whales have a language.

Well, dpdpending on how complex the language is, it would vary, if it's less complex than ours, I don't think there wil be ab ig thing about it, if it's as complex or more so than ours, I think scientists will start research to see if it's possible that whales our sentient.

They also have clicks or spereate groups and familys.

They are similar to Elephants. God though, when I think of what we do to Elephants... makes me ashamed to be Human.

It´s the same with birds:

www.birdsahoy.org...

www.pbs.org...

I had a very young robin once who was fallen out of the nest: I saved her the very last moment from a cats claws. Now what to do, I brought her up and she stayed 6 months me becomming sort of parent to her. I could even take her outside, she would stay on my shoulder or come back to me when she made her first tries to fly.

I´m a musician and she loved me playing to her.
She mimiced everything I did, thursty to learn: When I sat on the mixing desk she tried to move the faders as I did, when I was working on my Mac she sat on my shoulder watching the display, jumped on the keyboard picking at the keys when I sat on the piano ... and soon she tried to acompany me, which wasn´t successful because the pieces I played were not very repetitive, but she always met the key elements of the music I played (mood, tempo, scale, ...).
One peculiar piece wasn´t easy to play and I repeated a section of just 4 bars many times. One day, when I came home, she started to sing exactly that part out of nowhere. I was buffled. That seemed to show on my face. There followed something I´d describe as an outburst of laughter...

So I composed several little songs for her.
Over time we developed some kind of communication.

We had songs for: "Let´s have dinner now ! (most important)", "Let´s have a walk in the park !" and even for moods: "I feel so lonely, don´t go away ...", "Hey, I feel good today !", and "Oh, how I love you !"
I had a song too, which she hated: " Shut up, I have to practise without your acompany !"
The answer was free jazz, highest pitch, as loud as she could, followed by a fury attack on my speakers !

When she had learnt to fly properly (I had a big loft at that time), I left a window open and she made first excursions. Half an hour first, later she stayed away for three days. I could hear her from far away with the "Let´s have dinner !" song before she rushed in, followed by "Oh, how I love you!" with kisses on my hand after the biscuits.
And she brought new songs home she taught me patiently. I never clearly understood the meaning, but there was one, somehow "sexy". It had to do with mating rituals I presume (I won´t go into details, there are under-aged on this forum ...). Let´s say, she seemed to come in the mood when I played that special song to her...

I got a long-time job in an other country then, I had to move.
I couldn´t focus on the music we played there, "I feel so lonely, don´t go away !" revolving endlessly in my head.

About a month later we had no performances for three days. I took the gap to fly 1200 miles. I went to the park where we had been so often when she got used to the out-side world little by little. I had a boom-box with me, loops of our songs. I tried "I feel good today !" I hadn´t finished the first five repetitions when I got an answer. And a second answer from there. And a third answer from there over !
All the robins around knew our song !!!

Need I say........ I couldn´t hold back my tears of joy.

She didn´t show, but I knew she was alright.

I talked with an ornithologist later on. He said my story is nothing out of the ordinary. All the birds have their special song patterns the learn from others and - birds within a certain district, the borders are usually rivers, big streets, high buildings, have their unique songs.

He didn´t know the meaning of these songs though. I do.
It changed my perception of animals, I´m a vegetarian now.