Dolphins May Have Individual Names

Dolphins May Have Individual Names
海豚可能有个性化的名字

Many animals use sounds to convey information. Humans use particular vocal labels for objects and for people. We call these words, and names.
许多动物使用声音来传递信息。人类使用特定的语音标记物体和人。我们称之为单词或名字。
A few creatures, such as parrots and dolphins, can learn specific vocal labels. And wild dolphins are known to have particular, individual signature whistles. Scientists at Scotland’s St. Andrews University wanted to know: can these whistles be used as labels?
有些生物，比如鹦鹉和海豚，可以学习特定的语音标签。野生海豚以拥有独特的个性化的叫声而闻名。苏格兰 St. Andrews University的科学家们想知道：这些叫声可以用作标签吗？
The researchers analyzed sounds from dolphins off Scotland’s east coast, and extracted these signature whistles. Then they altered the sounds so the calls wouldn’t sound exactly like the originating dolphin. They played those sounds back to the dolphins, along with whistles from dolphins familiar to the animals and whistles from strangers.
研究者分析了苏格兰东海岸的海豚的声音，并提取了这些独特的叫声。然后他们改变了提取的叫声，让这些叫声和最初的海豚声音不完全一样。然后他们把这些声音给海豚播放，同时播放的还有其他海豚的以及陌生海豚的声音。
When the dolphins heard their own signature whistle [Altered dolphin whistle] they routinely responded with that same sound.  That reaction only happened twice when they heard sounds from their pals and not at all when they heard the alien dolphin. The research is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Stephanie L. King and Vincent M. Janik]
当海豚听到自己的叫声时，他们通常会对声音有所回应。这种反应只会在他们听到同伴的声音时发生两次，而当听到陌生海豚的声音时不会回应。研究被发表在the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Stephanie L. King and Vincent M. Janik]。
The researchers think dolphin signature whistles serve as self-identification, and maybe even as a label for addressing each other—just like a name.
研究者认为海豚个性化的叫声可以作为自我标识，并且可能作为标签用于与其他海豚沟通——就像名字一样。