Dolphins Have Names for Each Other Too, It's Just in a Different Language

Humans aren't the only ones who have names, it turns out that dolphins have names too - the only difference is theirs are composed of whistles.

Scientists studying bottlenose dolphins found that the free-form canoodling underwater mammals refer to each other by name, mainly because they are so incredibly socially dependent on each other.

"(Dolphins) live in this three-dimensional environment, offshore without any kind of landmarks and they need to stay together as a group," said Dr. Vincent Janik, from the University of St Andrews' Sea Mammal Research Unit in a BBC report.

"These animals live in an environment where they need a very efficient system to stay in touch."

Animals can exhibit a tendency to familiarize certain objects with vocal melodies, but the case of the bottlenose dolphin is especially promising to scientists because it lies in a very gray area — dolphins are one of the few creatures who can recognize, and even admire, themselves in a mirror.

"Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are a promising animal for exploration in this area because they are capable of vocal production learning and can learn to use arbitrary signals to report the presence or absence of objects," reads the study abstract.

The researchers recorded a group of dolphins communicating to each other and then played back the calls through underwater speakers. The result?

"Here, we show that wild bottlenose dolphins respond to hearing a copy of their own signature whistle by calling back. Animals did not respond to whistles that were not their own signature."

You can read the full published study detailing the findings in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.