By: Ethan Tong

You know instantly when somebody is talking to a child. It turns out that dolphin moms, like humans, use a high pitched baby-talk. A study was published on Monday and found out that bottlenose dolphins can change their voice when finding their calves.

Researchers listened to bottlenose dolphins in Florida and recorded their sounds. The dolphins signature call is unique and important because they need it to find their calves and other dolphins.

“They use these whistles to keep track of each other. They’re practically saying that ‘I’m here, I’m here,’” said study co-anchor Leala Sayiigh, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

“That was true for every mom in the study, 19 of them all,” said biologist Peter Tyack, a study co-anchor from the University of St. Andrew in Scotland.

This research is important because it shows that dolphins can say baby talk.