by Satanus 3 Replies latest jw friends
A beluga whale at the National Marine Mammal Foundation has been making sounds uncharacteristic for belugas. It has lowered the pitch to make it similar to human voice. Scientists there surmise that it picked it up from its yrs of human interaction. One diver mistook the whales sounds for someone telling him to get out of the water.
You can see the article and play the whales babbling here http://phys.org/news/2012-10-whale-distinctly-human-like-voice.html#ajTabs
S
A whale with a distinctly human-like voice
Made it clickable. Very interesting, Satanus. Animals are not ignorant.
A while back I read a book called "Beautiful Jim Key" about a horse that learned some interesting skills one would not have thought possible.
Beautiful Jim Key was a famous performing horse around the turn of the twentieth century. His promoters claimed that the horse could read and write, make change, do arithmetic for "numbers below thirty," and cite Bible passages "where the horse is mentioned."
Beautiful Jim's trainer, "Dr." William Key, was a former slave, a self-trained veterinarian, and a patent medicine salesman. Key emphasized that he used only patience and kindness in teaching the horse, and never a whip. Beautiful Jim became a celebrity thanks to the aggressive promotion of A. R. Rogers. The horse performed at large venues from Atlantic City to Chicago.
Beautiful Jim Key and his trainer periodically toured the United States in a special railroad car to promote the fledgling cause of the humane treatment of animals. They performed in the best venues in most of the larger American cities, including New York’s Madison Square Garden. The horse was among the most popular attractions at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
President William McKinley saw Beautiful Jim Key perform at an exposition in Tennessee and declared, “This is the most astonishing and entertaining exhibition I have ever witnessed.” The President also commented that it was an example of what “kindness and patience” could accomplish.
Key noticed the horse's ability to communicate when Key's wife asked the horse if he wanted an apple to which the horse responded by nodding his head up and down like a person would when giving an affirmative sign. No one had trained him to do this. He had learned this by observing humans interracting.
Thanks for making it clickable. To me the whale talk sounds a bit like baby talk. I'm skeptical about some of the stuff they said the horse could do, though.
S
MR Ed did it years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=y_PZPpWTRTU
