How Dolphins Use Signature Whistles

How does a dolphin recognize another individual by sound? Follow the evidence behind signature whistles, including playback experiments and the limits of comparing these calls to human names. Inside this episode: - A distinctive contour - Why identity matters in water - The playback test - Can one dolphin copy another - Mothers and calves Sources include Proceedings of the Royal Society B, signature whistle recognition, NOAA repository, bottlenose dolphin voice study, and NOAA repository, signature signals in other species. This episode is a researched narrative summary. Historical records may be incomplete, translated differently, or interpreted differently by scholars. We distinguish documented facts, estimates, disputed interpretations, and later stories where material. Corrections are logged and incorporated into future editions. Follow More Than Instinct: Inside Animal Intelligence for more researched stories about the science of animal intelligence.