News in Brief Animals

A killer whale gives a raspberry and says ‘hello’

Mimicry of human sounds supports the idea that imitation matters in the cetaceans’ own dialects

two killer whales

SAY WHAT?  Killer whales can (sort of) imitate human words and other very unwhalelike sounds, says a tough test of mimicry.

Maarten Visser/Wikicommons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Susan Milius

Ready for sketch comedy she’s not. But a 14-year-old killer whale named Wikie has shown promise in mimicking strange sounds, such as a human “hello” — plus some rude noises.

Scientists recorded Wikie at her home in Marineland Aquarium in Antibes, France, imitating another killer whale’s loud “raspberry” sounds, as well as a trumpeting elephant and humans saying such words as “one, two, three.