Russian researchers say they have recorded the first “conversation” between a pair of dolphins. The dolphins, named Yasha and Yana, could apparently create sentences of up to five “words.” This is cool, and overwhelming. What were these dolphs talking about? Do you think they were talking about me?
We’ve known for a while now that dolphins are smart as hell and use more than a thousand different types of whistles to communicate, but apparently it was unclear whether they talked to each other on a one-on-one basis. Some background from lead researcher Dr. Vyacheslav Ryabov, via the Telegraph:
“The analysis of numerous pulses registered in our experiments showed that the dolphins took turns in producing [sentences] and did not interrupt each other, which gives reason to believe that each of the dolphins listened to the other’s pulses before producing its own.
“This language exhibits all the design features present in the human spoken language, this indicates a high level of intelligence and consciousness in dolphins, and their language can be ostensibly considered a highly developed spoken language, akin to the human language.”
Were Yasha and Yana solidifying lunch plans? Wondering when Vyacheslav would leave them the hell alone? Talking shit about a member of the pod who honestly, has been kind of a you-know-what lately? Musing darkly on the prospect that our entire world may just be one in a series of simulations created by an unimaginably advanced version of the human race?
Scientists: I would like to know.