Editing Animal language (section)

====Aquatic mammals====
* [[Bottlenose dolphin]]s: Dolphins can hear one another up to 6 miles apart underwater.<ref name="YPTE201">{{cite web|title=Dolphins' Secret Language|url=http://www.ypte.org.uk/news.php?id=141|publisher=Young People's Trust for the Environment|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827055409/http://www.ypte.org.uk/news.php?id=141|date=29 February 2012|archive-date=27 August 2012}}</ref> Researchers observed a mother dolphin successfully communicating with her baby using a telephone. It appeared that both dolphins knew who they were speaking with and what they were speaking about. Not only do dolphins communicate via nonverbal cues, they also seem to chatter and respond to other dolphins' vocalizations.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Secret Language of Dolphins|url=http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/dolphin-language/|publisher=National Geographic Kids|access-date=2013-03-31|archive-date=2013-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308153248/http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/dolphin-language/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:HumBack2.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|[[Spectrogram]] of humpback whale vocalizations. Detail is shown for the first 24 seconds of the 37 second humpback whale "song" recording. The whale songs and echolocation "clicks" are visible as horizontal striations and vertical sweeps respectively.]] {{Listen
| filename     = Humpbackwhale2.ogg
| title        = Humpback Whale "Song"
| description  = Recording of humpback whales singing and clicking.
| format       = [[Ogg]]
}}

* [[Whale]]s: Two groups of whales, the [[humpback whale]] and a subspecies of [[blue whale]] found in the [[Indian Ocean]], are known to produce repeated sounds at varying frequencies, known as [[whale songs]]. Male humpback whales perform these vocalizations only during the mating season, and so it is surmised the purpose of songs is to aid [[sexual selection]]. Humpbacks also make a sound called a feeding call, which is five to ten seconds in length at a nearly constant frequency. Humpbacks generally feed cooperatively by gathering in groups, swimming underneath shoals of fish and lunging up vertically through the fish and out of the water together. Prior to these lunges, whales make their feeding call. The exact purpose of the call is not known, but research suggests that fish react to it. When the sound was played back to them, a group of [[herring]] responded to the sound by moving away from the call, even though no whale was present.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
* [[Sea lion]]s: Since 1971, [[Ronald J. Schusterman]] and his research associates have studied sea lions' cognitive ability. They have discovered that sea lions are able to recognize relationships between stimuli based on similar functions or connections made with their peers, rather than only the stimuli's common features. This is called ''equivalence classification''. This ability to recognize equivalence may be a precursor to language.<ref name="SSTW">{{cite web|url=http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/nsn09.sci.life.reg.sealion/|title=NOVA scienceNOW: Smart Marine Mammals – Smart Sea Lions|work=teachersdomain.org|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref> Research is currently being conducted at the Pinniped Cognition & Sensory Systems Laboratory to determine how sea lions form these [[equivalence relation]]s. Sea lions have also been proven to understand simple [[syntax]] and commands when taught an artificial sign language similar to one used with primates.<ref>http://www.pinnipedlab.org/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118073332/http://www.pinnipedlab.org/ |date=2012-01-18 }} The Pinniped Cognition & Sensory Systems Laboratory</ref> The sea lions studied were able to learn and use a number of syntactic relations between the signs they were taught, such as how the signs should be arranged in relation to each other. However, the sea lions rarely used the signs semantically or logically.<ref name="Gisiner Schusterman 1992">{{cite journal|last1=Gisiner|first1=Robert|last2=Schusterman|first2=Ronald J.|title=Sequence, syntax, and semantics: Responses of a language-trained sea lion (Zalophus californianus) to novel sign combinations.|journal=Journal of Comparative Psychology|volume=106|issue=1|year=1992|pages=78–91|url=http://pinnipedlab.ucsc.edu/publications/pub_077_1992.pdf|doi=10.1037/0735-7036.106.1.78|access-date=2013-12-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119152347/https://pinnipedlab.ucsc.edu/publications/pub_077_1992.pdf|archive-date=2018-11-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the wild, it is thought that sea lions use reasoning skills associated with equivalence relations in order to make important decisions that can affect their survival, e.g.&nbsp;recognizing friends and relatives or avoiding enemies and predators.<ref name="SSTW" /> Sea lions use various postural positions and a range of barks, chirps, clicks, moans, growls, and squeaks to communicate.<ref>{{cite web |title=California Sea Lion – Communication |url=http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/california-sea-lion/communication.htm |access-date=2013-05-19 |website=seaworld.org }}</ref> It has yet to be proven that sea lions use echolocation as a means of communication.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dolphins.org/sea_lion_info|title=Sea Lion Info – Dolphin Research Center|work=dolphins.org|access-date=10 December 2016}}</ref>
The effects of learning on auditory signaling in these animals is of interest to researchers. Several investigators have pointed out that some marine mammals appear to have the capacity to alter both the contextual and structural features of their vocalizations as a result of experience. Janik and Slater have stated that learning can modify vocalizations in one of two ways, by influencing the context in which a particular call is used, or by altering the acoustic structure of the call itself.<ref name="Janik 2000">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Janik | first1 = VM. | last2 = Slater | first2 = PJ. | s2cid = 1839031 | title = The different roles of social learning in vocal communication. | journal = Anim Behav | volume = 60 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–11 |date=Jul 2000 | doi = 10.1006/anbe.2000.1410 | pmid = 10924198 }}</ref> Male [[California sea lions]] can learn to inhibit their barking in the presence of any male dominant to them, but vocalize normally when dominant males are absent.<ref name="Schusterman 1968">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Schusterman | first1 = RJ. | last2 = Dawson | first2 = RG. | title = Barking, dominance, and territoriality in male sea lions. | journal = Science | volume = 160 | issue = 3826 | pages = 434–6 |date=Apr 1968 | doi =  10.1126/science.160.3826.434| pmid = 5689412 | bibcode = 1968Sci...160..434S | s2cid = 28586877 }}</ref> The different call types of gray seals can be selectively conditioned and controlled by different cues,<ref name="Shapiro 2004">{{Cite journal  | last1 = Shapiro | first1 = AD. | last2 = Slater | first2 = PJ. | last3 = Janik | first3 = VM. | title = Call usage learning in gray seals (Halichoerus grypus). | journal = J Comp Psychol | volume = 118 | issue = 4 | pages = 447–54 |date = Dec 2004 | doi = 10.1037/0735-7036.118.4.447 | pmid = 15584781 }}</ref> and the use of food reinforcement can also modify vocal emissions. A captive male harbor seal named Hoover demonstrated a case of vocal mimicry, but similar observations have not been reported since. Still<!-- is this a person's name? --> shows that under the right circumstances [[pinniped]]s may use auditory experience in addition to environmental consequences such as food reinforcement and social feedback to modify their vocal emissions.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In a 1992 study, [[Robert Gisiner]] and Schusterman conducted experiments in which they attempted to teach syntax to a female California sea lion named Rocky.<ref name="Gisiner Schusterman 1992" /> Rocky was taught signed words, then she was asked to perform various tasks dependent on word order after viewing a signed instruction. It was found that Rocky was able to determine relations between signs and words, and form basic syntax.<ref name="Gisiner Schusterman 1992" /> A 1993 study by Schusterman and [[David Kastak]] found that the California sea lion was capable of understanding abstract concepts such as symmetry, sameness and [[Transitivity (grammar)|transitivity]]. This suggests that equivalence relations can form without language.

The distinctive sounds of sea lions are produced both above and below water. To mark territory, sea lions "bark", with non-[[alpha males]] making more noise than alphas. Although females also bark, they do so less frequently and most often in connection with birthing pups or caring for their young. Females produce a highly directional bawling vocalization, the pup attraction call, which helps mothers and pups locate one another. As noted in ''Animal Behavior'', their amphibious lifestyle has made them need acoustic communication for social organization while on land.

Sea lions can hear frequencies between 100&nbsp;[[Hz]] and 40,000&nbsp;Hz, and vocalize from 100 to 10,000&nbsp;Hz.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/life/sealion3.htm |title=Oceanography |publisher=Onr.navy.mil |access-date=2013-05-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234007/http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/life/sealion3.htm |archive-date=2013-12-02 }}</ref>