Coprolite-delight - Talking Into The Void

DOLPHIN MOMS DO ‘BABY TALK’ WITH THEIR CALVES

Baby talk or Motherese/ Parentese is a speech pattern nearly universal across cultures and languages in human caregivers interacting with children. It is characterized by a higher than usual pitch, exaggerated intonation, repetition, calling attention to objects and use of slow stretchy speeches. What we know about baby talking in other nonhuman species is sparse. Now, researchers have  found evidence for baby talk in bottlenose dolphin, a species that shows parallels to humans in their long-term mother–offspring bonds and lifelong vocal learning. 

Researchers analyzed audios from made wild bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota Bay, Florida, United States, and found that females produced signature whistles with significantly higher maximum frequencies and wider frequency ranges when they were recorded with their own dependent calves.

This finding provide an example of convergent evolution of motherese in nonhuman mammals, and may help us understand how motherese can facilitate vocal learning and bonding in nonhumans as well as humans.

Photo by Carli Brush Stoll

Reference: Sayigh et al., 2023.  Bottlenose dolphin mothers modify signature whistles in the presence of their own calves. PNAS

Giant Devil’s Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica), family Empusidae, found in Eastern Africa

photograph by Igor Siwanowic

Chromatophores are pigment-containing reflective cells found in squids,  octopuses,  and cuttlefish.  By contracting muscles in the skin, the animal distorts the cell and pushes the pigment to the surface,  making the chromatophore larger and more vibrant.  Many cephalopods are capable of rapid colour changes and displays.

Animals can use this colourful tactic for camouflage,  threat displays,  and social interaction.  Chromatophores can continue to be active after death for a long time.

(source)