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from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.
A NewScientist article discusses how pattern recognition software is being used to help us better understand the communications of animals, including a program that can automatically translate dolphin whistles (but only if the meaning is already known):
IT was late August 2013 and Denise Herzing was swimming in the Caribbean. The dolphin pod she had been tracking for the past 25 years was playing around her boat. Suddenly, she heard one of them say, "Sargassum".
... She was wearing a prototype dolphin translator called Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry (CHAT) and it had just translated a live dolphin whistle for the first time.
It detected a whistle for sargassum, or seaweed, which she and her team had invented to use when playing with the dolphin pod. They hoped the dolphins would adopt the whistles, which are easy to distinguish from their own natural whistles and they were not disappointed. When the computer picked up the sargassum whistle, Herzing heard her own recorded voice saying the word into her ear.
...
Herzing is quick to acknowledge potential problems with the sargassum whistle. It is just one instance and so far hasn't been repeated. Its audio profile looks different from the whistle they taught the dolphins it has the same shape but came in at a higher frequency. Brenda McCowan of the University of California, Davis, says her experience with dolphin vocalisations matches that observation.
Since the translatable vocalization has only been used once, it could be nothing more than a fluke, but if we can teach dolphins new vocalizations with a specific meaning and they actually use them, then we could finally understand each other enough to start gathering the data needed for real communication with a non-human species, which would be an incredible achievement (and might finally force people to accept the fact that humans really arent all that different from other animals).
(Score: 1) by dast on Wednesday April 02 2014, @11:03PM
For real! Any long-time dog owner knows this.
My dog understands dozens of words, reads our emotions and intentions, looks to me for permission to do things, and even comes to me when he needs help with something. He has even picked up the meaning of words not directed to him. He listens to my wife and I talking between ourselves and shows obvious understanding, even when we are trying to obfuscate what we are saying.
When he was young, when the wife and I were talking about whether he needed to be fed, we would spell certain words verbally out like food (eff oh oh dee), and he wouldn't react. Now when we do that, he knows we are talking about feeding him and he will run into the kitchen, pick up his food bowl, drop it at my feet, and stare at me intensely.
He can even tell when we are trying to trick him, asking him of he wants treat with the intent to lure him into arms reach to pick him up and give him a bath. Somehow, even though we try to be careful about letting him know what we are going to do, he can tell when we are being fake. He'll just run away and hide in his cage as though he could read our minds.
It is eerie...
(Score: 2) by umafuckitt on Thursday April 03 2014, @02:17AM
That's pretty impressive. Ours isn't that smart, but she definitely shows traits along those lines. I think she picks up small details of our habits. Usually when we leave the house she comes with us (she even comes to work with us) but sometimes she stays at home. She's somehow figured out when we're not taking her with us and she hangs back and does her best to look sad.