Hey, it's Flora Lichten, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Investigating an iconic animal sound.

The dolphin whistle.

But what exactly is that dolphin saying?

My next guest is trying to find out.

She's an expert in dolphin communication and has been compiling a database of whistles from a pot of dolphins in Sarasota,

Florida that's been studied since the 1970s. And she's working to answer some fundamental

questions about dolphin dialects. Dr. Layla Syg is a senior research specialist

at Woods Holeographic Institution. Layla, thank you for being here. You're welcome. Thank you for

having me. Let's do some dolphin whistle 101. So every dolphin has something called a signature whistle.

Let's listen to some examples first.

Okay, so what is a signature whistle?

Yeah, well, signature whistles are the closest thing to human names that we know of in the animal world. They really are a lot

like our own names. So each dolphin has their own. They do make their own signature whistles a fair

bit, which is sort of different than how we use our own names because we can usually see each other.

But they use them maybe when they're out, you know, sort of in places where they can't see each other and use them to keep in touch. They're like, Flora here, something like that. Yes, yes, that's right. That's right. Well, they'll kind of call out, I'm here, I'm here. but they do also copy each other and they will copy another dolphin's signature whistle

as a way of calling out to them,

which is more in line. here, I'm here. But they do also copy each other, and they will copy another dolphin's signature

whistle as a way of calling out to them, which is more in line with how we use our names.

Do they name themselves? Like, how does a signature whistle come to be?

Oh, that's kind of the $60 million question or whatever. It was actually the focus of my PhD dissertation a long time ago.

And I still cannot give you an answer.

...