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 “Psst, listen up!” A female dolphin was being trained to push paddles to get food. Although she couldn’t see her partner, a male dolphin in a separate tank, she kept whistling and chirping to him. Soon he started pushing paddles, too. Did the female “tell” him how to do it?
Underwater with dolphins,
marine biologist Kathleen Dudzinski  eavesdrops on "dolphinspeak."
She dives with special recording
equipment that helps her study
how these animals communicate
—and what they say.
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Squawks, whistles, chirps, and clicks—the racket is earsplitting as groups of bottlenose dolphins zoom around beneath the waves. Scientists have been aware of the dolphins’ noisemaking for years. But are the animals talking to each other? If they are, what are they saying?
Where there are dolphins, there are humans who are curious about them. There are dozens of species of dolphins, and they live in oceans all over the world, as well as in some rivers. They live in groups. The ultimate team players, some kinds of dolphins work together to herd fish and then take turns eating their catch. They speed through the water side by side, sometimes making sounds as they swim. They zip along without bumping or banging into each other. Scientists believe the only way dolphins could work together so well and in so many ways is if they’re “talking.”
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