If we could talk to a dolphin, what would we say? More to the point, how would we say it? Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Sarasota Dolphin Research programme have just been handed a $100,000 prize for work believed to now identify a possible language-like communication between local dolphins.

One of four shortlisted finalists, the scientific team has been recognised for its use of cutting-edge technology, science, and ingenuity to decipher non-signature whistles between a community of resident bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota, Florida.

Non-signature whistles differ from the more widely-studied signature whistles – which are believed to be name-like vocalisations assigned and associated with individual dolphins. 

“Bottlenose dolphins have long-fascinated animal communication researchers,” said biologist, Laela Sayigh, leader of the research project. “Without the over five-decade-long study by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Programme, we would not have such an extensive library of vocalisations for individual dolphins.

“With this, we can study non-signature whistles, which have received very little research attention to date. Our work shows that these whistles could potentially function like words, shared by multiple dolphins.”

The winning study identified distinct non-signature whistle types used by multiple dolphins for communication. Using playback experiments performed under completely natural conditions in the wild, the team elicited avoidance responses for one non-signature whistle, suggesting an alarm function. A second non-signature whistle was found to correlate to the query function, produced in response to an unexpected or unfamiliar situation.

Sayigh’s team recorded known individual dolphins with non-invasive suction cup hydrophone placed on the animals during unique catch-and-release health assessments, as well as with digital acoustic tags.

The study was one of four shortlisted projects launched to uncover ‘remarkable discoveries’ in communications with wildlife, including with monkeys, nightingales, and cuttlefish.

Each finalist in the inaugural Coller Dolittle Challenge – a joint initiative between the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University – had been selected for their use of cutting-edge technology, science, and ingenuity to decipher, interface, and mimic non-human organism communication.

Jeremy Coller, founder of the Coller Dolittle Challenge, said: “Humans share this planet with millions of other species, but for too long we’ve only talked amongst ourselves. The Coller Dolittle Challenge aims to change that, so I’m excited by the fascinating work Laela and her team have done on dolphin communication.

“They are worthy winners and I can’t wait to see how they use AI to further interpret this vast set of data.”

The study in question – ‘First evidence for widespread sharing of stereotyped non-signature whistle types by wild dolphins’ – has been published in BioRxiv.

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