My Whale is Talking!

But what is he saying?

It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets’ Swedish Chef.

Surprisingly, scientists said the audio they captured was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially thought it was a human voice.

Handlers at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego heard mumbling in 1984 coming from a tank containing whales and dolphins that sounded like two people chatting far away.

It wasn’t until one day, after a diver surfaced from the tank and asked, “Who told me to get out?” did researchers realize the garble came from a captive male Beluga whale. For several years, they recorded its spontaneous sounds while it was underwater and when it surfaced.

Its not that hard to believe. How many of us have seen a talking parrot? Heck many of these parrot’s mimics are so precise that they also mimic context, by saying “Hello” to greet somebody, or to ask for things they want.

Found some recordings of this whale, pretty neat stuff!

h/t Uncle Jesse

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4 Responses to My Whale is Talking!

  1. Tommy says:

    Does that sound like the theme from Young Frankenstein to you? Is this the reincarnation of Peter Boyle?
    😀

  2. Bubblehead Les says:

    He’s saying “When the going gets Weird…” ; )

  3. Mark says:

    Oh my goodness! That is hilarious.
    I thought the video was over and took a sip of coffee. When it went on a third time, I literally did a spit take on my keyboard.

    I see an internet meme coming…

    -Mark

  4. guy says:

    I dunno,

    It either sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher, or the last car salesman I talked to.

    Not a real strong endorsement for ‘Intelligent Species’ if you ask me.

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