Musser Whitney B, Bowles Ann E, Grebner Dawn M, Crance Jessica L
Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, California 92110.
Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, 2595 Ingraham Street, San Diego, California 92109.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2014 Oct;136(4):1990-2002. doi: 10.1121/1.4893906.
Limited previous evidence suggests that killer whales (Orcinus orca) are capable of vocal production learning. However, vocal contextual learning has not been studied, nor the factors promoting learning. Vocalizations were collected from three killer whales with a history of exposure to bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and compared with data from seven killer whales held with conspecifics and nine bottlenose dolphins. The three whales' repertoires were distinguishable by a higher proportion of click trains and whistles. Time-domain features of click trains were intermediate between those of whales held with conspecifics and dolphins. These differences provided evidence for contextual learning. One killer whale spontaneously learned to produce artificial chirps taught to dolphins; acoustic features fell within the range of inter-individual differences among the dolphins. This whale also produced whistles similar to a stereotyped whistle produced by one dolphin. Thus, results provide further support for vocal production learning and show that killer whales are capable of contextual learning. That killer whales produce similar repertoires when associated with another species suggests substantial vocal plasticity and motivation for vocal conformity with social associates.
先前有限的证据表明，虎鲸（逆戟鲸）具备发声学习能力。然而，发声情境学习尚未得到研究，促进学习的因素也未被探究。从三头有接触宽吻海豚（瓶鼻海豚）经历的虎鲸身上收集了发声数据，并与来自七头与同种个体饲养在一起的虎鲸以及九头宽吻海豚的数据进行了比较。这三头虎鲸的发声 repertoire 以较高比例的咔哒声序列和哨声为特征，易于区分。咔哒声序列的时域特征介于与同种个体饲养在一起的虎鲸和海豚之间。这些差异为情境学习提供了证据。一头虎鲸自发学会了发出教给海豚的人工啁啾声；声学特征落在海豚个体间差异的范围内。这头虎鲸还发出了与一头海豚发出的刻板哨声相似的哨声。因此，研究结果为发声学习提供了进一步支持，并表明虎鲸具备情境学习能力。当与另一个物种相处时，虎鲸会产生相似的发声 repertoire，这表明其具有显著的发声可塑性以及与社交伙伴在发声上保持一致的动机。
