Not only parrots are “copy cat”; know the killer whale that can mimic human words including “hello”

NewsBharati    31-Jan-2018
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Antibes, January 31: Whales, the species which is abler top create good communication with human, might become a better companion of the human race. A killer whale for the first time ever has uttered human words like “hello”, “bye bye”.

The 14 years old whale lives in lives at Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, France. She learnt those words by copying a trainer in the aquarium; even it can blow raspberries. Whales usually can learn a sound just by hearing but uttering human words is the first of its kind. An international team of researchers has published the study demonstrating the talking abilities of 14-year-old Wikie.

"The killer whale that we studied in captivity was capable of learning vocalizations of other killer whales and also human vocalizations by imitating them," said Dr. Call, a co-researcher on the study. "Therefore this result suggests this is also a plausible explanation for how killer whales in the wild learn the vocalizations of other killer whales and how they develop their dialects."

Killer whales or orcas are usually very intelligent as well as one of the world’s most powerful predators. The intelligence of these ocean mammals makes them deadly to their prey. Killer whales are among the few mammals that can copy sounds from other species which is a hallmark of the human race.

Since Wikie is the first one to dos so, researchers are not sure if there are any other such killer whales in the water. But, one of the researchers has warned about imposing human concepts on animals. Dr. Jose Abramson said, "We will gain more if we try to understand the natural way each species communicates in its own environment than if we try to teach a human language."