Tests using an endoscopy with a high speed video camera observed the synchronous movements of the monkey lips and the production of pulses (Cranford et al., 1997). The site of sound production appears to be the museau de singe or “monkey lips” which resemble the lips of monkeys. As medical technology progresses, we might one day be able to directly observe the dolphin’s sound producing mechanism.Īll of the measurements done with live vocalizing dolphins seems to indicate the nasal sac area of the dolphin’s head. The medical equipment available today that could allow researchers to see what is happening is too difficult to use with dolphins, and in some cases may present some danger to the dolphin’s well-being. The reason that scientists are not sure which hypothesis is correct is that no one has ever been able to see inside a dolphin’s head while it is making sounds. This tissue may act like lips that flap together when air is pushed past them, creating a pulse that is transmitted out into the water (Au, Popper, & Fay, 2000). The second hypothesis for sound production is that the air sacs act as an acoustical mirror, focusing sound produced by small knobs of fatty tissue just beneath the blowhole. The action of these air sacs is similar to filling up a balloon and then squeezing the end to let out the air. Air is forced out of the air sac and over the nasal plug, producing the various sounds. At the opening of each air sac is a nasal plug. After the dolphin takes a breath, it closes its blowhole, and air returns from the lungs into the channel leading to the blowhole, and, into one or more of the air sacs. Sounds are produced in three pairs of air sacs located underneath the blowhole. The most widely accepted hypothesis is the nasal sac theory. There are two hypotheses about how dolphins produce sound underwater. These sounds are generated inside the dolphin’s head, under the blowhole, and, generally, without air escaping from the dolphin's blowhole. The sounds that a dolphin makes underwater serve to help them navigate, locate food, glean information about the environment, and to communicate with other dolphins. It works very well there is no way you can walk past a "screaming" dolphin and not reply in some fashion!
At DRC, the dolphins apparently vocalize to get people’s attention as they walk by the lagoons. The dolphins have great muscle control over their blowholes and can alter the sounds by changing the size and shape of the blowhole opening.
The dolphins often make up new sounds that are mimicked by their pool mates and passed around the facility.ĭolphins make sounds in air by releasing air through their blowholes. These sounds, such as "giggle" ( Hear a dolphin "giggle") and "raspberry," ( Hear a "razz" sound) were invented by the dolphins and encouraged by the staff. The dolphins at Dolphin Research Center, on the other hand, have developed quite a repertoire of sounds produced in the air. Wild dolphins mainly make sounds underwater, although they have been known to emit high-pitched whistles both under the water and above the surface when in distress. It’s been theorized that once mature male dolphins team up with a small alliance - they squad up, to borrow a phrase from Fortnite - they ditch their individual “names” and share the same distinct whistle.Dolphins produce sounds differently in air and underwater. In a study published this month in Current Biology, King, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia, and her team report that bottlenose dolphins are adept at producing sounds and use these skills to develop their own signature whistles in the early stages of their life.
#Dolphin sounds video series
What is so unmistakably cool to King is that she can hear every adult male dolphin’s individual voice label, each a distinct series of whirling clicks, buzzes, and high-frequency whizzes. Her excitement is palpable, but what exactly is she so jazzed about?
“This is the coolest thing ever,” study co-author Stephanie King, Ph.D., can be heard saying in the video (above). The video is seen from the point of view of scientists observing a group of adult male dolphins gliding through the clear blue waters. Video shot in Shark Bay, Australia, shows something incredible: dolphins are calling each other by name.
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