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from the keep-doing-this-humans-and-we'll-leave-sooner dept.
Dolphins Are Simplifying Their Calls to Be Heard Over Shipping Noise
The world's oceans are getting noisier, humming with the near-constant sounds of ship engines, seafloor mining, and oil and gas exploration. Now, a new study [open, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0484] [DX] published in the journal Biology Letters has found that dolphins are being forced to simplify their calls in order to be heard over the noise.
A team of researchers, led by marine biologists Helen Bailey and Leila Fouda from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, analyzed some 200 recordings of bottlenose dolphin calls collected over a three-month period in the North Atlantic using underwater microphones. They found that in noisy parts of the ocean, dolphins communicated using less-complex, higher-frequency whistles than in quieter areas.
"It's kind of like trying to answer a question in a noisy bar and after repeated attempts to be heard, you just give the shortest answer possible," Bailey said. "Dolphins simplified their calls to counter the masking effects of vessel noise."
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 31 2018, @10:30AM (1 child)
So now all dolphins are saying is "Pardon? What? Huh?"
We've turned the sea into an old person's drinking establishment for dolphins.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday October 31 2018, @10:34AM
No, they're all just drunk from playing the Wesley Crusher drinking game.
"He smiled...drink!"
"Wha?"
"Whassa?"
Falls to sea floor.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---