Cetacea ~ Intelligible Communiqués
In the months leading up to my move to New Zealand, i spent hours poring over information about local flora and fauna. In fact, i successfully memorized every bird species by latin, english, and Maori name! (Don't ask me to do this now because it's been too long!) One class of creatures particularly enchanted me: the cetaceans. Cetaceans are a boisterous and intelligent class of sea mammal. In layman’s terms we call them ‘dolphins’. Orcas and pilot whales are also dolphins, but are rarely recognized as such because of their large size. While the morphology of these creatures is fascinating enough, even more intriguing is their linguistic skills. Pods (dolphin family groups) are usually formed for life and can result in the development of unique dialects. [1] These are the only creatures know to have individual names aside from humans. A mother names her calf, and the rest of the pod addresses the kiddo with that na...