Listen to a captive killer whale named ‘Wikie’ mimic ‘hello’ back to scientists

In 2014, scientists hauled their recording equipment into Marineland, an aquatic theme park located in the French resort town of Antibes. They wanted to see if a 14-year old orca whale living there, named Wikie, could listen to a huge diversity of sounds — from humans, elephants, and whales — and then mimic these noises back.

The experiment was designed to test the hypothesis,  supported other studies, that killer whales and other cetaceans learn sounds in social settings. 

According to their research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Wikie successfully copied these sounds back to the researchers — although there’s certainly no evidence she was ever truly “talking.” Read more…

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