BDRI on the radio!
Dear friends,
yesterday thursday 16th November our Chief Researcher was on the radio talking about dolphins and communication. The interview was done by a Demmark radio. We have to consider that dolphins are highly social animals with fine abilities in sound reception and production. Dolphin sounds are divers and complex. Dolphins use sounds to locate food, receive information about the environment and to communicate with other dolphins.
Sounds produced by dolphins can be divided in three structural types: echolocation clicks (biosonar), whistles and burst pulsed sounds (for communication). BDRI's research on dolphins vocalizations is focused in two main sounds related with the communication: whistles and burst pulsed sounds.
Echolocation clicks are broadband pulses and short duration used to determine the characteristics of the surrounding environment based on the returning echoes.
Whistles are frequency modulated sounds. Whistles can be defined relatively unequivocal, as they clearly contrast to other sound types. The burst pulsed sounds are more complicated, they are discrete packets of clicks and receive names as squawks, barks, cries, chirps, etc.
