Bottlenose dolphin - Roatan - Honduras
Orca - Lofoten - Norway
Orca - Lofoten - Norway
Common dolphins - Azores - Portugal
Common dolphin - Port St. Johns South Africa
Common dolphins - Port St. Johns South Africa
Bottlenose dolphins call each other by name
Bottlenose dolphins are able from an early age to identify themselves with specific whistles. The animals greet each other as we do with a "hello", and answer with a "hello". The zoologist Vincent Janik from St. Andrews reports on this in the online edition of the PNAS. Researchers also found out that already young individuals develop an individual whistle, and keep it as their personal identifier throughout their life. The experiments were done on bottlenose dolphins; I was not able to find out to what extent the results can be transferred to other dolphin species.
Amongst the large relations of the dolphins, the Orcas, I often had the impression that Orcas too communicate using whistles within their groups. Orcas have an additional two white patches on the side of their heads, which may play a part in identifying them. Orcas have a very dark skin, so in dark and murky water the white patches could help with an exact identification. The communication and identification within a group of Orcas is essential for the animals, as they can only hunt successfully in a group. I am amazed every time by the Orcas dynamism.
An article on the subject in the Spiegel online
