Animal behaviour Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals Killer whales able to copy words such as ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye’ as well as sounds from other orcas, study shows Play Video 0:53 Listen to killer whales mimicking human voices – audioHigh-pitched, eerie and yet distinct, the sound of a voice calling the name “Amy” is unmistakable. But this isn’t a human cry – it’s the voice of a killer whale called Wikie. New research reveals that orcas are able to imitate human speech, in some cases at the first attempt, saying words such as “hello”, “one, two” and “bye bye”. Wikie was then additionally exposed to five orca sounds she had never heard before, including noises resembling a creaking door and the blowing a raspberry. Finally, Wikie was exposed to a human making three of the orca sounds, as well as six human sounds, including “hello”, “Amy”, “ah ha”, “one, two” and “bye bye”.

Source: The Guardian January 31, 2018 00:01 UTC