the sounds we were hearing were part of these whales’ distinctive dialects, according to the researchers who study them. Southern Resident killer whales have a unique set of calls they use when talking to each other. These calls are similar to, but quite distinct from, calls used by Northern Residents from Vancouver Island and not even remotely like calls used by transient killer whales or killer whales in other populations who have been studied, including those in Iceland, Antarctica, and New Zealand. Moreover, researchers discovered that the orcas use discrete calls that identify them not
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