Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
HER HEAD ABOVE water, Wikie the killer whale looks at the human trainer next to her pool, listens, then loudly vocalises: “Hello.”
It is not a perfect imitation, but, astonishingly, recognisable.
It is the first scientific demonstration of an orca mimicking human words, which also included “Amy” – the name of Wikie’s handler – “Bye-Bye” and “One-Two-Three”.
“We were not expecting a perfect match, like a parrot,” researcher Jose Abramson of the Complutense University of Madrid said of the experiment reported Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Yet in a trial with six different words or phrases, some of Wikie’s attempts were “a very high quality match” especially given that orcas’ vocal anatomy is “totally different” to ours.
It was hard not to jump for joy when Wikie first “spoke” Abramson told AFP, adding the research team had not quite known what to expect.
“When we tried ‘hello’ and she did the sound… some emotional responses came from the trainers. For us (the scientists) it was very difficult not to say anything…”
Seeking to measure orcas’ ability to copy new sounds, Abramson and a team turned to Wikie, a captive killer whale at the Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, southern France.
Trained to perform tricks for Marineland visitors, Wikie was a good candidate as she had already learnt the gesture commanding her to “copy” what her trainer does.
As part of the trial, the killer whale was asked to mimic never-before-heard sounds made by other orcas with different dialects from different family groups.
Then, she was made to repeat human words.
In recordings of the experiment, Wikie takes several stabs at “hello”. Every time, she voices two syllables with something resembling an “l” in the middle and an “o” at the end.
The most convincing attempt is a deep, throaty sound, a bit like a cartoon demon might say “hello”.
The orca also manages an eerie whisper that does sound remarkably like “Amy”.
But she seems to have more trouble with “One-Two-Three”. The last syllable sounds a bit like a ‘raspberry’ – that sound of contempt humans make by pushing the tongue between the lips and forcibly expelling air to produce a vibration.
Abramson said the orca’s ability to mimic does not mean she understands what she is saying.
The experiment was designed in such a way that no meaning or context was attached to any of the words.
But it does show, once more, that orcas are very smart animals indeed, he added.
Imitation skills are a sign of intelligence, as they allow animals to learn lessons from peers.
The alternative, learning through trial and error, “can be every expensive… you can die just trying poisonous fish, for example, for killer whales. But if you learn from the experience of the others it’s more safe,” said Abramson.
“One of the main things that fired the evolution of human intelligence is the ability to have social learning, to imitate, and to have culture.
“So if you find that other species have also the capacity for social learning, and of complex social learning that could be imitation or teaching, you expect a lot of flexibility in that species.”
This in turn, allows a species to adapt more easily to changes in their environment, improving survival chances, said the researcher.
Killer whales have previously been shown to mimic dolphin sounds.
Apart from parrots whose copycat skills are well-documented, beluga whales, dolphins, seals, and an Asian elephant were previously reported to have tried mimicking human language.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Amazing when applying for mortgage judt ticking one box either costs you or saves you for next 30 years.
Keep it where it is Mario – Those on Variable Mortgages like myself really are shafted otherwise – every time the ECB rate drops the AIB hikes up my Variable – ‘Sorry we have to in order to offset all those Trackers we agreed to’. I wonder will they be kind enough to keep the Variable where it is when the ECB rate does eventually rise ?!?! PS – begrudging admiration to those of you who chose Tracker Mortgages :)
Tracker mortgages were another disgraceful banking product promoted by the banks. The banks are now screwing variable rate mortgage customers with rates that are way above the ECB rate and did not reduce rates for these customers when the ECB did. What did our Government do about this, nothing as usual. The banks should be legally required to reduce rates when the ECB reduces rates and the banks should bear the loss on tracker mortgages, I would suggest it come out of their bonus pot for the next 100 years.
Why would the ECB act.
Inflation is rock bottom, growth is rock bottom, the Euro is overly strong crushing exports for many. Deflation threatens to turn into a tsunami.
Germany whistles, the ECB runs and barks and the rest of Europe can go hang.
Maybe you should leave the Eurozone, Ukraine is looking pretty good right now
Switzerland, Norway, Sweden & Denmark look all right. Britain doesn’t seem too bad either. Or are only comparisons to non-Eurozone countries currently in the throes of devastating civil wars due to community tensions, and in no way linked to their currencies, considered valid?
Before the Euro the interest rate for home loans stood at around 10% for the previous thirty years.
I wonder what the interest for punts would be now. Our problem is not the Euro it’s the political class that turned private capital losses into Government debt then continued by the next lot.
And do you think 10% was too high (ignoring interest rate spikes in the 80s)? What about in the early 2000s, would you say the low interest rates we enjoyed then were good or bad for our overheating economy?
Certainly not all of our problems have been caused by the Euro, but quite a few have and more will continue to be. The Euro was a bad idea, poorly executed. It might well work successfully down the road, but at present it is not fit for purpose. That said we’re in to deep to withdraw now, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start putting plans in place now for an orderly succession from the EMU when the time is right.
Before the Euro, the continent of Europe had an economic future and the ability of its constituent states to adjust in line with normal business practice. That is gone and unemployment is now a serious problem.
We are now growing again, most of Europe has no meaningful growth and the EU itself predicts no strong growth this decade.
A Europe together was a great idea, ultimately destroyed by the rush to a single currency.
Britain doesn’t seem too bad either”
– U obviously have not been following UK economy closely . UK is in debt – big time .
Yes, the UK does have a very large national debt, as does the US who I believe are currently debating raising their debt ceiling to “eye watering.” But have you not noticed how little they seem to really care, or how much less of an impact these debt levels are having on their societies than our debt is having on us? Both the US & UK have been printing money hand over fist regularly for the past few years now; high debt levels are not such a big problem when default by devaluation remains an option, and it would be an (less viable) option for Ireland if we still controlled our printing presses too.
Always felt the real problem of the property boom was the banks were allowed to abandon a lending policy for home loans linked to wages. Only allowed to borrow 2and1/2 times your salary, this more or less kept home prices linked to wages.
But low interest rates hit bank cash margins and they threw money into the system by lending by value. The Gov are there to generally think society but that generation of ministers, bankers and top civil servants were complete A€&Holes in every sense, then to cap it all they refused to tell Germany, French, English, American banks that their investments can go up or down.
It over simplification but generally that’s what happened. Stupidity and cowardice.
I don’t think the problem was the Euro, the boom started when banks were allowed to stop lending linked to wages, that automatically restricts borrowing and started lending by perceived value. Then they just threw money into the system and were encouraged by a generation of ministers, bankers, regulators who were A€&holes. Then when it imploded the Developers bank had to be saved, of course the same ministers then were too cowardly to explain to French, German English and Americans investors that their investments sometimes fall as well as rise.
Low interest from the Euro is fine you can control lending other ways but our top men were too stupid and cowardly to have that difficult chat but prefer to shift the pain to the little people.
It’s a bit simple but that’s pretty much what happened.
My rate is 0.75 now – another cut would hardly make any difference. €15 tops. Keep it Mario ;)
Thanks rub it In for us variables gettin rode
I have a Tracker as my main mortgage and a small Variable as a topup. The increases on the variable loan over the past few years have pretty much wiped out the benefit of the low tracker rates. Very glad my main mortgage isn’t a variable.
Dont you think Mario looks like a Mafiosa? Would you trust a face like that?
Only his mother
Feck ya Mario!
I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is.
This is a good thing isn’t it?
It is if you have a problems with economic growth or are in zane
Who’s Zane?
Zane must be the strange world where most of those bamkers live. The rest of us are doomed to live in the real world.
Good for variable rate mortgage holders like me anyway.
“Ahh and I thought that they’d cut it by a few percent”
The ECB rate is at feckin 0.25%.
It’s virtually fcuking zero.
They’d have to go into the minuses to make any substantial decrease.
Draghi is looking a bit worse for wear.
Those big jaundiced bags under his eyes.
Ohh the virtues of money Mario.
As another poster said Fuc* You Mario
the banks will still get their money at near 0 % – and lend it out at whatever they wish .
That’s handy after they have f#cked up this and other economies .
Draghi is just another banker gangster. The idea that he has anyone’s interest at heart – except his own and banks is ridiculous . .
have your say