Research adds to concerns about the impact of human noise pollution on marine life
We have all experienced the frustration of trying to hold a conversation in a loud pub or restaurant. Now researchers have shown that dolphins may face a similar scenario, showing that they “shout” to each other when faced with background noise.
“In a very noisy pub we find ourselves increasing the volume of our voice,” said Pernille Sørensen, a graduate student at the University of Bristol and first author of the research, published in the journal Current Biology. “Dolphins respond in a similar way – they’re trying to compensate but there are some miscommunications.”Dolphins are social, intelligent animals, relying on clicks and whistles to communicate and using echolocation to hunt and navigate.
When increasing levels of noise were played from an underwater speaker, both dolphins compensated by changing the volume and length of their calls to coordinate the button press. Nevertheless, they could not entirely compensate. From the lowest to highest levels of noise, the dolphins’ success rate dropped from 85% to 62.5%, according to the research.
The highest noise levels were comparable with what are sometimes experienced in marine environments as a result of shipping and drilling.
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