Researchers astonished after decoding the meaning behind whistles that dolphins use to communicate

Humans have developed their own languages, diverse cultures, and even codes that fuel the technology that the world is now thriving on. But that doesn't mean that human beings are the only species that can be considered smart. Apart from others such as primates and elephants, dolphins are also considered one of the world's most intelligent animals, since they have several cognitive abilities that set them apart. This also puts them in the ranks of other fascinating marine mammals such as whales, seals, and manatees, but what makes them even more special is the ability to communicate with each other. In a recent development, researchers have elaborated how they simply call each other by their "names". As unbelievable as it seems, the whistles that we hear these sea creatures use, actually have distinct sounds that each dolphin identifies with. The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as an article titled, "Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other," as reported by BBC.

A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland decided to dive deeper and recorded a group of wild bottlenose dolphins to capture each animal's signature sound. Soon thereafter, the researchers played these calls back to them using underwater speakers and observed that each of these creatures responded when they heard their own call.

The result was nothing short of a miracle to the team, as these mammals only responded to their own calls by whistling back. By doing so, dolphins displayed human-like behavior as they made distinct sounds, resembling different names, to communicate.

Dr Vincent Janik, an integral part of this research and a member from the university's Sea Mammal Research Unit, said that this skill probably came about to help the animals to stick together in a group in their vast underwater habitat. The researcher noted, "Most of the time they can't see each other, they can't use smell underwater, which is a very important sense in mammals for recognition, and they also don't tend to hang out in one spot, so they don't have nests or burrows that they return to."

He further stated, "(Dolphins) live in this three-dimensional environment, offshore without any kind of landmarks and they need to stay together as a group." 

The researchers further mentioned that this is the first time they have witnessed such a unique phenomenon in a species. However, in the past, there have been studies that have suggested some species of parrots may use sounds to label others in their group.

Peter Tyack, a marine mammal biologist at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom who was not involved in the study, said, "It's a wonderful study, really solid." He added, "Having the ability to learn another individual's name is … not what most animals do. Monkeys have food calls and calls that identify predators, but these are inherited, not learned sounds." The new findings open doors for understanding the importance of names, according to Science.org.