Dolphin mothers use ‘baby talk’ with their calves

Scientists have dubbed the sing-songy way that parents talk to babies “motherese.” Studies suggest this special baby talk helps infants bond with caregivers and learn the complexities of language. Now, scientists suspect we aren’t the only species with a special way of speaking to our youngest: Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) also raise the pitch of their voice when talking to their calves, according to a study published yesterday in PNAS.

Researchers made the discovery by analysing the whistles of female dolphins in Florida that were undergoing health assessments for ongoing research. The whistles mother dolphins produced around their babies reached higher pitches and exhibited a greater range of frequencies than ones they made when alone or around other dolphins, the team found — shifts similar to the ones human voices make when speaking motherese.