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Amazon's dolphins talk to each other, as scientists discover that their family members are made up of two parts, while long whistles warn invaders
- The Araguayans – also known as Botos – are very isolated and solitary animals
- Unlike their sea cousins, we know very little about them and their language.
- It was long suspected that they were not communicating because of their basic social skills
- Now, researchers have found evidence of 237 different calls for a variety of lawsuits
The Amazon's dolphins are a mystery because scientists know very little about these solitary animals and how they communicate.
Now researchers have discovered that they are conversing with their own language using a variety of sounds – in much the same way as their better-studied ocean cousins.
A total of 237 different types of sounds were identified – the most common being short two-part calls that baby dolphins made when approaching their mothers.
They also made longer calls and whistles similar to those of flat-nosed dolphins – although much more rarely.
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Cameras and underwater microphones recorded the sounds and interactions between the dolphins at the fish market in the Brazilian city of Mocajuba.
They flock to these areas where they are often fed by people who shop there and this provides a fertile study environment for researchers.
Experts speculated that freshwater dolphins, mostly solitary, did not have a language because of their basic social skills.
The Araguayans – also known as Botos – could have developed their language before the marine dolphins, who then adapted them to their societies.
The calls were placed somewhere between the low frequency sounds used by baleen whales used for long-distance communications and high-frequency clicks of short-distance marine dolphins.
Laura May Collado, co-author of the study, a biologist at the University of Vermont in the United States, said, "We found that they interacted socially and produced more sounds than they did." it was previously thought. Their vocal repertoire is very diverse.
Cameras and underwater microphones recorded the sounds and interactions between the dolphins at the fish market in the Brazilian city of Mocajuba. The Araguayans (pictured) – also known as Botos – are very isolated and solitary animals
The researchers found that dolphins converse with their own language using a variety of sounds – in the same way as their oceanic cousins better studied in the oceans.
Unlike marine dolphins who use long whistles to promote social bonds, botos seemed to use them to warn others to stay away. Two-part calls that baby dolphins passed when they were approaching their mother.
Unlike marine dolphins who use long whistles to promote social bonds, botos seemed to use them to warn others to stay away.
Dr. May Collado said, "It's exciting. Sea dolphins, like big noses, use signature whistles, and here we have a different sound used by river dolphins for the same purpose.
And the researchers felt that they had not captured all the dolphin calls of the rivers because they had only recorded 20 hours.
Dr. May Collado said their river environment could have shaped these features.
She said: "There are many obstacles such as flooded forests and vegetation in their habitat, so this signal could have evolved to avoid the echoes of vegetation and improve the communication distance of mothers and animals. their little ones. "
The results were published in PeerJ magazine.
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