A special underwater microphone, capable of distinguishing the voices of individual animals, allowed scientists to record for the first time a real conversation between two dolphins, and it turned out that the dolphins do speak their own language.
Researchers have long known that these mammals communicate with each other using characteristic clicks and whistles to express states of joy, happiness, or anxiety.
But scientists have now shown that dolphins alter the volume and frequency of impulse clicks to form individual "words" that they bundle into sentences, just as humans do.
Researchers from the Karadag nature reserve in Feodosia recorded a conversation in the basin between two Black Sea bottlenose dolphins, whose names are Yasha and Yana. They found that each dolphin listens to a whole sentence of impulses without being distracted before answering.
Study leader Dr. Vyacheslav Ryabov said: "Essentially, this exchange of signals is like a conversation between two people."
"Each pulse sent by a dolphin differs from the other in its appearance on the timing diagram and in the set of spectral components on the frequency plot."
"In this regard, it can be assumed that each impulse represents a phoneme or word in the spoken language of dolphins."
“Analysis of the numerous impulses recorded during the experiments showed that dolphins take turns issuing [sentences] without interrupting each other, which suggests that each of them listens carefully to the impulses of others before issuing their own.
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"This language has all the constructive features inherent in human spoken language, which indicates a high level of intelligence and consciousness in dolphins, and their language can be considered as a highly developed spoken system, akin to the human language."
For more than 25 million years, dolphins have developed brains that are larger and more complex than humans.
The researchers found that Yasha and Yana can form sentences consisting of several "words" - no more than five, but so far they have not been able to understand their meaning.
Dr. Ryabov stated that it is now - without a doubt - clear that dolphins speak their own language, and it is time to start learning how to communicate directly with them.
“Humans need to take the first step to establish relationships with the first intelligent inhabitants of planet Earth by developing devices to overcome the barriers to communication between dolphins and humans,” he added.
Scientists have previously known that dolphins use more than one thousand different types of whistles depending on social context, but it was not clear if they could communicate directly with each other.
In 2007, Australian scholars determined the meaning of individual whistles, which were interpreted as: "I am where everyone is", "Hurry" and "There is food here."
Dolphins are believed to have their own sign language, which they use to communicate with their fins.
A group of scientists in Florida earlier this year proved that the intensity of communication between dolphins increases when they have to solve difficult problems - for example, remove the lid from a container - as if they were discussing how best to do it.