Orcas are very intelligent creatures. This was confirmed recently when an Orca named Wikie learned how to speak English - or at least was mimicking human speech. She learned how to say “hello”, “bye-bye” and even how to count up to 3.
Wikie is a 14-year-old Orca (also known as killer whale) who has been reported to be imitating sounds made by humans. According to some previous studies, Orcas have already been reported to mimic noises made by bottle-nose dolphins and sea lions. Scientists think that this ability to learn could explain the differing forms of communication in wild Orca pods.
If Orcas are imitating humans, it is a remarkable achievement. Whales do not have the same vocal ability as humans as the whales have evolved to make their own sounds underwater. While humans use the diaphragm to speak, whales produce sounds through their nasal passages using bursts of air. Recently, scientists discovered that whales have different ‘accents’ or ‘cultures’ and the new study suggests that those differences are picked up when they are young through imitation of adults, in a similar way to human children learning to speak.
Orcas aren’t the only animals who have been recorded imitating humans. Orangutans, parrots and elephants have all been captured mimicking our speech. But the feats of Orcas are still a surprising discovery as their vocal muscles differ from ours - the elephant only managed it by sticking it’s trunk in its mouth!
By: Bibi and Martha