Hydrophone Narration

What is a hydrophone?

-an underwater microphone

What sounds do we expect to hear?

-pistol shrimp —> produce those popping sounds/snapping sounds you will hear—> sounds like microwave popcorn

-dolphin sounds—> whistles & clicks

-signature whistles—> high pitch

-echolocation —>sounds like a creaking door—> helps a dolphin to determine size, shape, speed, and direction —> used for hunting and navigating

What is echolocation & how does it work?

-very directional sound—> focused beam of sound

-creaky door sound/ buzzing through powerlines

-echolocation can work

What is a dolphins hearing range and how does that compare to a humans?

How far away can dolphins hear?

Where are a dolphins ears?

-located about an inch behind their eyes there is a little pinhole opening—> looks like a human dimple

How else do dolphins communicate with sound?

-pec slapping, tail slapping, breaching

-we have an idea of what certain sounds mean —> excited vs. annoyed

-echolocation is in a separate category since used for navigation

-signature whistles —> identifiers

-alot still unknown—> popular research topics for decades

-don’t think they have a language like ours where they have words or sentences

What other sounds do we hear from dolphins here?

-sounds that we hear above the water in human care are often lower in pitch to fit within our hearing range —> not usually made in the wild—> they are a specific greeting for human friends—> they seem to adapt their communication when hanging out with human friends!

What are signature whistles?

-signature whistles discovered in the 1960s in human care (what facility & how?)

-3 million Katherine’s in the world, but only 1 Pandora—>solidified as an individual

-develop them when they are about a year old

-signature whistles are identifiers, just like when we introduce ourselves with our names

-dolphins can imitate each others signature whistles as well—> they are exceptional at imitation

-here at DRC we look at acoustics (spoiler alert—> a lot is still unknown) —> mom & baby —> Cayo uses her whistle to call Morada—> Morado whistles her signature back until they come within visual sight of one another

Conservation Message

-noise pollution & how we can help make the ocean less noisy & can tie in DRC research on communication and collaboration between dolphins