By Helen BriggsBBC News
30 January 2018
A killer whale that can mimic words such as
"hello" and "bye bye" is thought to be the first of its
kind to copy human speech.
The female learned to "speak" a
handful of human words by copying a trainer at a marine park in France.
The animal's repertoire includes the name
"Amy" and "one, two, three".
Whales and dolphins are among the few animals
other than humans that can learn to produce a novel sound just by hearing it.
"In mammals it is very rare," said
Dr Josep Call of the University of St Andrews, a co-researcher on the study.
"Humans obviously are good at it...
Interestingly, the mammals that can do best are marine mammals."
The researchers set out to find out whether
killer whales could learn new vocalisations by imitating others. They studied a
female named Wikie at Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, France.
She was taught to speak human words through
her blowhole and can be heard in recordings mimicking words such as hello and
Amy, and counting one, two, three, using squawks, shrill whistles or
raspberries.
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