00:00Okay, get this. Dolphins can phone each other. This is not a joke, but a fact confirmed by scientists.
00:07They put a mother and a baby dolphin in two separate aquariums and conducted special underwater audio communication between them.
00:15When the connection was turned on and the dolphins heard each other's voices, they started chatting.
00:20Their conversation consisted of happy whistles, chirps, and clicks.
00:24You've probably heard this chatter in wildlife movies.
00:27But I wonder, you know, how do the dolphins dial the phones?
00:32Do they have flip phones?
00:33Get it? Flipper? Using a flip phone?
00:36Okay, never mind.
00:37Anyway, the most interesting thing about this experiment is that the mother and the baby recognized each other's voices through the speakers without seeing each other.
00:47They were talking fast, like it was a normal dolphin phone conversation.
00:51Think of a dog that hears its owner's voice from a phone speaker.
00:54Or when you turn on a video of another barking dog.
00:58Your pet is confused and doesn't understand what's going on.
01:01But dolphins started communicating immediately, just like humans.
01:06Many animals communicate with one another through touching, gestures, biting, or growling.
01:11But dolphins have shown they can communicate without direct contact.
01:15If they understand clacking, clicking, and whistling, it means only one thing.
01:20Dolphins have their own complex, developed language.
01:23And scientists hope to learn it.
01:26Scientists called one of the elements of their language signature whistles.
01:29They use whistles to call others by name, to convey information, and to warn of danger.
01:35This is one of the most difficult forms of communication in the animal world.
01:39These whistles vary, depending on the situation and the dolphin species.
01:44They raise or lower the tone, shorten the duration of the sound, or increase it by exchanging short or long words.
01:52To compare the language of dolphins with other species, scientists have compiled a table of sound properties,
01:58such as length, clarity, pitch, pattern, and others.
02:02According to all the data, dolphins have the largest sound palette.
02:06Larks, you know, the bird, took second place, by the way.
02:09But even with all this data, we still don't know much about the complexity and diversity of their language.
02:16In one of the latest studies on this topic, scientists analyze about a thousand dolphin communication recordings made over the past 40 years.
02:23But even after that, we can't even come close to understanding it.
02:28It's possible that AI will handle this better than humans.
02:31We aren't aware of how to speak using signature whistles, but scientists know for sure that dolphins use them to express their emotional state,
02:40to share news, and to tell each other about the dangers or where their prey swims.
02:45Scientists believe that dolphins can talk about anything.
02:48They can rejoice and complain to each other.
02:51They even communicate in different styles at the same time, like people who are chatting at a noisy party.
02:57But in addition to sound signals, they use body postures, jaw claps, bubble blowing, and fin stroking.
03:04They form groups, assign tasks, and work as a team.
03:08If one dolphin knows a place with food, it will tell its friends about that, like Instagram.
03:14If they spot a shark, they'll warn others about it.
03:17There was even a case where two bottlenose dolphins scared a spotted dolphin.
03:21A couple of days later, this dolphin returned to that place with its friends.
03:25It's like when some bad guy bullies you, and then you call your friends to help deal with him.
03:30What if we learn dolphins' language and find out that they're smarter than humans?
03:35What if they gossip about the human race and laugh at, like,
03:38Oh, brother, get a load of these dumb people.
03:41They're fighting each other over nothing.
03:43What do they spend their lives on?
03:44Why don't they just chill and enjoy life?
03:47They create too many problems for themselves.
03:50It's a good thing we're smarter than them and can just relax in the ocean.
03:53Yeah, dude, let's stay away from them.
03:56Or maybe they know a lot more about nature and the ocean than people do.
04:00What if they discuss the problems of the ocean and have unknown technologies?
04:05Of course, these are all theories.
04:07But just imagine how cool it would be if you could understand dolphins and respond to them using a special program.
04:13You could get yourself a good friend that's interesting to talk to and can take you for a ride in the waves.
04:19Unfortunately, at the moment, it's still very unlikely.
04:24Dolphins are too fast swimmers.
04:26It's difficult to constantly record their communication using high-tech equipment.
04:30Even the slightest change in the dolphin's whistling is associated with their actions.
04:35Their whistles may sound the same, but the context is different.
04:39They play, fight with one another, chase fish, or run away from a large shark.
04:43And all the time, they use their language.
04:47Well, we have the same situation.
04:49We raise our hands when we want to say hello.
04:52But we also raise them when saying goodbye.
04:54Our wow reaction can mean both joy and horror, depending on the context.
04:59Dolphins have the same complex communication.
05:02For example, they clap their jaws when they fight each other.
05:05But they also do it when they play.
05:08Dolphins are unique not only because of their brains and the way they communicate.
05:12Perhaps you don't know that dolphins are not fish.
05:16They're mammals.
05:17Yeah, you knew that.
05:18They can't breathe underwater because they don't have gills.
05:21They come to the surface, take a deep breath, and swim for about 10 minutes.
05:26Then they repeat this process.
05:28Unlike fish, dolphins don't lay eggs.
05:31They give birth to cubs.
05:33And they feed them with milk.
05:35They also have body hair.
05:36Yep, newborn dolphins have hair on their beaks.
05:39They lose it soon after birth.
05:41Why do they need this hair?
05:43Scientists believe that this is an evolutionary echo from the time when dolphins lived on land.
05:49And here's another strange fact.
05:51We've all heard how millions of years ago, fish began to slowly come ashore.
05:56During evolution, they changed their appearance, adapting to new life on solid ground.
06:01And so they gradually turned into mammals.
06:04But dolphins are unique since their development is kind of reversed.
06:08They were originally amphibians that lived near bodies of water.
06:12The ancestors of those amphibians were artiodactyl mammals, similar to deer.
06:18Not only dolphins, but also whales and porpoises have the same evolutionary path.
06:23All of them are called cetaceans.
06:26They made a big step from land to water about 50 million years ago.
06:30What if these ancient deer-like animals were the most intelligent creatures on Earth
06:35that realized that living in the water was much better than living on land?
06:39And they haven't regretted that decision yet.
06:42Dolphins have a big brain.
06:45Chimpanzees and humans have brains of the same size, and they all have something in common.
06:50Dolphins have a long lifespan, and they form groups.
06:53They show the emotions of sadness, grief, happiness, and joy.
06:58They can assess situations and solve problems.
07:01But the coolest thing is they can pass the mirror test.
07:04That means they recognize their reflection in the mirror.
07:07They don't just look at themselves.
07:09No, they pay attention to the parts of their bodies that they can't see otherwise.
07:14They examine their movements in the mirror.
07:16Their behavior in front of a mirror is not much different than that of humans.
07:20This indicates their self-awareness and high intelligence.
07:24Do they feel sad if they don't like their body?
07:27Can they be happy if they have, let's say, a beautiful tail?
07:31In addition to these features, dolphins have a real superpower, echolocation.
07:37By producing clicks and whistles, they can find their relatives that are pretty far away.
07:41They can spot prey or an enemy despite poor visibility in the ocean.
07:45This power allows them to sense a metal implant in the body of a swimming person.
07:51We are 70% water.
07:53Therefore, when we dive into the sea or ocean, for dolphins, we become part of their echolocation field.
07:59When they emit a sound, the sound waves crash into a metal object inside the human body,
08:05and the dolphins immediately feel it.
08:07And some dolphin species can turn off half their brain while sleeping.
08:11One eye is kept closed, and the other eye monitors the situation so as not to miss danger.
08:18Ooh, smarty-pants dolphins!
08:23That's it for today.
08:24So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:29Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!
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