Dolphins reported talking "whale" in their sleep.

Found this article just now and it is so exciting to me!

abcnews.go.com...

But there’s also the intriguing possibility that these sounds — virtually identical to sounds made by the humpback whale — may, if the dolphins are really asleep and not just resting, be direct expression of something the dolphins are dreaming. Another possibility, say the scientists, is that dolphins are going over their dolphinarium show routine in their heads in something like the way an eager student might fall asleep going over tough homework problems. And as if to entice the scientists’ curiosity, just as these reports were emerging from France, reports and pictures surfaced from the waters around Hawaii, on the other side of the globe, that show the same kind of whale — humpbacks — playing a unique, even sensual, lift-and-slide game with the same kind of dolphin — the bottlenose.

This is so fascinating to me, because it does seem to show that maybe they are dreaming of their interactions with the whales. Beyond that though, it would be akin to us speaking in another language in our sleep. That would mean that we learned it, or it is mysteriously known. I guess the dolphins and whales play together though, so it seems they learned it from the whales? I wonder if the whales know the dolphins' language. If so, do they communicate with each other?! My mind is swimming with the ideas!

Also, I really didn't know where to post this, did a search and didn't see that it was already posted and it is so exciting that I wanted to share it.

Here is a video about the interactions the whales and dolphins share.

Its interesting but I think you are reading way to much into this. It could also just be a coincidence as these are captive born dolphins that have never even come in contact with Hump Backed Whales.

Just because they are making noises like a whale does not automatically mean they have deciphered , learned and understand the language of whales (if one even exists). Anyone can make noises like a whale, it doesnt mean they are correctly speaking whale for real. After all Mayn birds can imitate humans but cant understand English.

Its all pretty interesting though. We all love dolphins

I think it's great that dolphins have possibly learned "whale", afterall humans are able to teach dolphins many things!
It reminds me of this:

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Ah yeah, I see what you mean..... dang it.... LOL. My grandma had a Myna bird and it was really amazing to me. And I and my brother both have the weird habit of talking in our sleep in some other sounding type language though it seems that it's not.

reply to post by Ellie Sagan


My guess is that they are showing signs of memories created by repetitious activity.
Which is pretty astounding, but we all know how intelligent dolphins are.
Too bad we can't understand what they are saying.

As for the whale's...
Maybe they are treating them almost like "pets"?
The way we humans treat other smaller species.


Very interesting indeed.

reply to post by havok


Yes I think it could be that way, them seeing the dolphins as pets. Or maybe like an adult playing with a kid? Are whales smarter than dolphins? Maybe the dolphins are the more advanced? I need to research.

What are langauges?

Possibly the fundament of developed life. I believe words carry meaning beyond sound. Vibrational messages. So it's perfectly natural to believe that life forms older than humanity can also be the same.

Beautiful.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Parrots at least are proven that they actually can understand English or whatever language you teach them.

Before Pepperberg's work with Alex, it was widely believed in the scientific community that a large primate brain was needed to handle complex problems related to language and understanding and that birds were not considered to be intelligent as their only common use of communication was of mimicking and the repetition of sounds to interact with each other. However, Alex's accomplishments indicated that birds may be able to reason on a basic level and use words creatively.[4] Pepperberg wrote that Alex's intelligence was on a par with that of dolphins and great apes.[5] She also reported that Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old human[3] and had not even reached his full potential by the time he died.[6] She said that the bird had the emotional level of a human two-year-old at the time of his death.[7]

en.wikipedia.org...

The problem is most people talk TO birds not with them. They don't try to teach the bird the meaning, just to repeat it.

reply to post by mnmcandiez


lol thats a pretty clever act. But theres not evidence there to suggest that the parrot really understood another language. If it did then it would be able to have a conversation. It was just learning tricks like when you teach a dog to sit or beg on command. You teach a dog what to do when it hears the word 'sit' but the dog cant understand the whole language. Its just simple response to commands.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I take it you didn't watch the whole video. They test the parrot at the end along with a 3 year old child. The parrot is proven to have the ability of a 3 year old child. It's condensed but the real episode shows the whole test.

I've watched and read a lot on animal species intelligence. Birds CAN understand language, it is proven. Just like gravity or germ theory.

And certain breeds of dogs are proven to understanding the meaning with words to objects. Dogs are also heavily reliant on body language as well as audible commands.

I have 5 dogs, they all know what "going for a walk means" because they're waiting at the door and can't wait. Even if I'm still sitting on the couch, no body language involved.

reply to post by mnmcandiez


Not at all, its an unproven theory, there is a huge difference between understand or responding to commands and able to correctly understand and use a language. Repeating a few single words is not the same having a conversation. Even on the wiki page for that parrot it says :

Critics point to the case of Clever Hans, a horse who could apparently count, but who was actually taking subtle cues from his trainer. An important difference from Clever Hans was that Alex talked to and performed for anyone involved in the project, including complete strangers. In another case, Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee named after Noam Chomsky, was thought to be using language, but there is some debate over whether he was simply imitating his teacher instead. Dr. Herbert Terrace, who had worked with Nim Chimpsky, says he thinks Alex performed by rote rather than using language; he calls Alex's responses "a complex discriminative performance", adding that in every situation, "there is an external stimulus that guides his response.

But this is really a subject for another thread as it is off topic from the OP.

The original point was that just because dolphins make a sound like a hump back whale doesn't automatically mean they understand the language of whales. Especially when they have never even met a whale. The comparison with speaking birds is that they can accurately imitate sounds they hear without understanding what the sound means. So you trying to prove that parrots can understand commands has no bearing on the original point being made

reply to post by PhoenixOD


And there's people that doubt gravity exists, doesn't mean they're right. See all the electro-magnetic universe theories.

And there's been MULTITUDES of studies done with parrots proving that they can understand, just like with gravity. Research it if you want.

People don't give dolphins enough credit.

Probably because they get in the way of the fishing industry.

reply to post by Ellie Sagan


Wow. Amazing.

I wonder what other languages dolphins can speak.

The answer is metaphysical. The humpback whale is particular one I had a metaphysical experience with. And the dolphins are wonderful. They're being freed. But cosmically they shared some wonderful eutopias together.

As far as I know, Dolphins and whales are smarter than humans thought. Its is said that if those 2 every go extinct, the humans will die. The ancient extraterrestrials know this and consider whales and dolphin's very valuable to earth. I don't know know the details on all this yet, but it was confirmed to me by some beings not from planet earth.

All animals are really, really smart. If they weren't, they wouldn't be here.

They are just smart in animal ways and not human ways. They might be more interested in survival of the species than the individual at times. They might care more about taking a dust bath than working 9-5.
My dog understands a lot of language. I talk to him all the time. I'll ask him if he wants to go out the front door or the back door. He'll roll his eyes to show me.

I get up out of bed to let him out. Who's the dumb one?

reply to post by Ellie Sagan

may, if the dolphins are really asleep and not just resting, be direct expression of something the dolphins are dreaming

Obviously these scientists have never owned any pets... for if they had, they would instantly know that the Dolphins are dreaming. I've had several dogs, and all of them would dream. If you watch them while they're asleep, some times they move their legs as if they were running and they would bark or make other noises. It was absolutely clear to me the first time I saw a dog dreaming that it was in fact dreaming.

SAL-9000: Will I dream?
Dr. Chandra: Of course you will. All intelligent beings dream. Nobody knows why.

Yes, I've got one of those Rosetta Stone things and have been learning to speak whale for a few weeks now. Lots of the nuance comes from the clicking and mooing and running the air over the top of the mouth. My family understands a few words, although they are getting irritated I'm learning to sing "The bird, the bird, the bird is the word" in whale.

Dolphins are just the teacup yorkie of the whale family. Whales and dolphins are interfertle. This is no different than watching a chihuahua bark and play with a german shepard