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Creepy Recording Of Orcas Imitating Human Speech Is Leaving People Terrified
Studies have revealed that killer whales, or orcas, possess the ability to mimic human speech, even recording them ‘talking.’
One particular orca, named Wikie, demonstrated this remarkable skill by imitating words such as: “hello,” “bye bye,” and “one, two.”
The research, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, involved scientists from Germany, Spain, the UK, and Chile, who set out to explore the flexibility of orcas in copying sounds outside their natural repertoire.
One listener notes: “OK, that second hello was a little demonic. Was that really an orca, or the Devil speaking through a ghost box LOL The funniest and scariest thing EVER! That’s my day, can’t stop laughing my head off lol.”
However, others were more touched by the discovery.
“This makes me tear up, the fact that we live in a such a beautiful world filled with wonderful creatures,” one person wrote.
Josep Call, a professor at the University of St Andrews and co-author of the study, explained the researchers’ objective: “We thought what would be really convincing is to present them with something that is not in their repertoire – and in this case, ‘hello’ [is] not what a killer whale would say.”
The team conducted their study with Wikie, a 14-year-old female orca living in a French aquarium.
Before introducing her to human words, they trained her to replicate three familiar orca sounds made by her calf, Moana.
Then, they exposed her to five completely new orca sounds, including one resembling a creaking door and another akin to blowing a raspberry.
Finally, Wikie was introduced to six human sounds, including: “hello,” “Amy,” “ah ha,” “one, two,” and “bye bye.”
Through a process of trial and evaluation, Wikie successfully imitated many of these sounds, often getting them right on the first attempt.
In fact, two of the human utterances and all the human-produced orca sounds were mimicked in the very first trial.
The most consistently reproduced word was ‘hello,’ which Wikie correctly pronounced over 50% of the time in subsequent attempts.
While this discovery is fascinating, researchers caution that there is no evidence to suggest orcas understand the meaning behind the words they imitate.
“We have no evidence that they understand what their ‘hello’ stands for,” Call noted, per the Guardian.
Orcas are known for their ability to mimic other marine species, such as bottlenose dolphins and sea lions, as well as the movements of fellow orcas.
This research supports the idea that the distinct dialects observed among different orca pods in the wild may be a result of vocal imitation.
“This is something that could be the basis of the dialects we observe in the wild – it is plausible,” Call stated.
Wikie is not the first non-human animal to replicate human speech. Other species, such as dolphins, elephants, parrots, orangutans, and beluga whales, have demonstrated similar capabilities using various physical mechanisms.
For instance, an Indian elephant named Koshik inserted his trunk into his mouth to mimic Korean words, while the beluga whale Noc utilized his nasal cavities to create speech-like sounds.
Despite orcas’ different vocal anatomy, the study highlights their impressive ability to produce sounds resembling human speech.
Call emphasized: “Even though the morphology [of orcas] is so different, they can still produce a sound that comes close to what another species, in this case us, can produce.”
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