Clicks, whistles and tail slaps – the sophisticated way dolphins interact
The West Sussex Gazette has teamed up with the Sussex Wildlife Trust to bring you questions and answers about all things nature.
Charlotte Owen, WildCall officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, is on hand to answer your wildlife and conservation queries. As well as answering a variety of wildlife queries, Charlotte is always eager to receive your wildlife sightings in Sussex.
WildCall provides fact sheets ranging from how to make bird cake to beachcombing and can offer advice on environmental and planning issues as well as the best ways to help wildlife such as frogs, birds, bats and bees flourish in your garden.
To talk to Charlotte, call 01273 494777 between 9.30am and 1pm on weekdays, email wildcall@sussexwt. org.uk, write to her at WildCall, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, BN5 9SD, or visit sussexwildlifetrust. org.uk/wildcall
Dolphins are highly intelligent and social animals, so it’s not surprising that they have a sophisticated system of communication. Their vocalisations include two distinct types of sound, known as clicks and whistles.
Clicks are primarily a navigational tool, allowing dolphins to echolocate in the same way that bats do, by broadcasting a sound and listening for its echo to build a mental map of their surroundings. As a result, they can swim and hunt successfully even in dark and murky water. But dolphins are also capable of producing clicks at such a rapid rate – as many as 2,000 per second
– that it would be difficult for them to glean any useful sonar information, and they use these click bursts as a form of communication. They are often emitted when a dolphin is excited or angry, so seem linked to their emotional state – whether signalling they want to play, telling off a calf or shouting at an intruder.
Whistles are used to talk to other
Of all the many things that have changed over the past year and a half, it seems the thing that we, the general population, are struggling to come to terms with the most is the fact that we are permitted to touch one another again.
Before you start shifting uncomfortably in your chair, the sort of touching I’m referring to is all above board, or at least it was until late March 2020; handshakes, hugs, high fives, and even those ever-so-slightly-patronising pats-cum-rubs of the shoulder are all now in danger of becoming reserved for people with whom you share DNA.
Most of us who were paying attention saw this coming of course but the fact that many folk now prefer a wave and a ‘hiya’ or, if you’re over 65 and sport a pair of mutton chops, ‘how do?’, to the once traditional shaking of hands is no less sad. I do know a significant number who, some out of sheer dolphins, and potentially to other species as well, and there are a range of different whistles, chirps and screams that all communicate different messages.
You might be wondering how dolphins hear, as they don’t seem to have any ears. They do have small openings on either side of their head which allow them to hear sounds above water, but bloody mindedness, still proffer their sweaty digits to every acquaintance they meet, but what these people are unaware of is that, as soon as they are out of sight, their victim reaches for their trusty pocket-sized bottle of anti-bac gel.
Ever since restrictions were lifted in July, people have found their comfort zones – some more comfortably than others – with large numbers thankfully flocking back to restaurants and pubs to make up for that huge gap in their social diaries. As the weeks have gone on, it’s become noticeable that fewer people are choosing to wear masks in public, probably a combination of the confidence gained from being double jabbed as well as being fed up with advice and any perceived assaults on their freedoms.
It appears that where some are drawing the line is when it comes to getting closer to other people than is absolutely necessary, although it isn’t clear whether