Dolphin Moms Use ‘Baby Talk’ With Their Calves: A Unique Bond Uncovered

According to SAEDNEWS, Have you ever noticed how people often change their way of speaking when addressing babies? Many of us start using shorter sentences, exaggerate sounds, and adopt a more musical tone. This special way of talking is called “motherese,” or “infant-directed speech,” and has been an essential part of human communication for ages.

Laela Sayigh, a marine biologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Hampshire College in Massachusetts, explains, “We’re not changing the words that we’re saying, we’re changing the way that we’re saying them.” This sweet way of speaking helps capture the attention of little ones and aids them in learning language.

While only a few animal species—like zebra finches, rhesus macaques, and squirrel monkeys—have been documented to change their calls when talking to their young, researchers have recently made an exciting discovery about dolphins. A new study, conducted over the course of three decades in Florida, shows that common bottlenose dolphins also engage in motherese. This finding marks an important step in understanding communication in the animal kingdom and highlights how dolphins share a unique trait with humans.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that dolphin moms modify their vocalizations when interacting with their calves. Rindy Anderson, a behavioral ecologist at Florida Atlantic University who did not participate in the research, describes it as a significant discovery. She notes that these vocal changes help young dolphins learn how to produce sounds themselves, much like human infants learn to talk through interaction with their caregivers.

Learning to talk is no easy task for babies, yet they effortlessly absorb the sounds and patterns around them, eventually constructing sentences. This process is supported by the way we naturally communicate with them. Using shorter sentences cuts out extra words, emphasizing certain sounds helps clarify words, and raising the pitch of our voice gets their attention better.

Research has shown that these characteristics of motherese can hold a child’s attention more effectively than regular adult speech. When parents practice using this type of speech, their children often babble more and even develop a larger vocabulary as toddlers.

It’s essential to differentiate between motherese and what many refer to as “baby talk.” Baby talk can involve made-up words and incorrect grammar, such as saying, “Wook at dat widdle puppy-wuppy!” rather than “Look at that doggy!” The distinction is important, as motherese helps in language acquisition, while baby talk may not serve the same educational purpose.

This ability to modify vocalizations when communicating with young ones is quite rare in the animal kingdom. As Anderson explains, “Vocal learning is actually very rare. Out of the millions of species that use sound to communicate, there are just a few groups that must learn their vocal communication systems.” This discovery about dolphin mothers not only enriches our understanding of animal behavior but also suggests that complex communication is more widespread in nature than previously thought.

So, next time you see a dolphin swimming alongside its calf, remember that those gentle calls and whistles may be more than just sounds; they’re an important part of the learning journey for young dolphins, mirroring a bond we recognize all too well in human families.