S2E6: Deciphering Dolphins

In this this episode we talk about dolphins, some of the sounds they make, and their sophisticated means of communication. This season Hannah Hunter joins Claudia as the co-host of The Animal Highlight, teaching us all about “Animals and Sound.” This season was extracted from Season 4 of The Animal Turn Podcast. 

 Featured: 

• S4E05: Voice with Eva Meijer on The Animal Turn.

 Credits:

• Claudia Hirtenfelder, producer and host 
• Hannah Hunter, co-host
• Christiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer 
• Rebecca Shen, content producer and designer (logo and episode artwork)
• Gordon Clarke, bed music composer
• Learn more about the team here. 

 Support the podcast via: 

• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn 
• Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn 
• Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ 

Sponsor:

• Thank you to the sponsors of the fourth season of The Animal Turn podcast, “Animals and Sound,” where this animal highlight was originally aired 15 January 2022.

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

The Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory
The SAP Lab provides workspace and equipment for students engaged in sound related activities.

Sonic Arts Studio
The Queen’s Sonic Arts Studio (formerly Electroacoustic Music Studio) was founded in 1970.

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Transcript

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00:00 - Introduction 

• Welcome to Season 2 of The Animal Highlight. 
• This season is focused on “Animals and Sound” and was extracted from Season 4 of The Animal Turn Podcast (Voice with Eva Meijer).
• This season I am joined with a co-host, Hannah Hunter. A PhD Candidate in Geography at Queen’s University and a member of the Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory.
• This episode looks at coyotes.  

01:15 – Dolphin Sounds

•  We know that dolphins have strong communication skills and they make very distinctive sounds. 
• Dolphins don’t have vocal chords, they make their sounds through their blow holes. 
• There is so much we don’t know about dolphin sounds and there are so many hypotheses for how they make their sounds. One theory is the nasal sac theory. It says there are three pairs of air sacs located beneath the blowhole and after a dolphin takes a breath the dolphin passes air through them, similar to blowing up a balloon and letting out air.

04:16 – Sophisticated Communication 

• Dolphins are proficient in body language to communicate. 
• We think of dolphins as being intelligent so there has been a lot of research into how dolphins communicate and decoding their language. 
• Researchers believes dolphins giggle and that they learn language in similar ways that we do, baby dolphins will babble as they are learning the language. 
• There is a lot more nuance in their communication that extends beyond survivalist ideas. 
• The way dolphins communicate in captivity is very different to how they communicate in the wild, in captivity they will make many more sounds above water in an attempt to communicate with humans. 

07:23 - Credits

• Thank you to Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics for sponsoring The Animal Turn Podcast.
• Thank you also to the Sonic Arts Studio and the Sonic Arts of Place Laboratory who were sponsors for the fourth season of The Animal Turn podcast that was focused on “Animals and Sound” where these animal highlights were extracted from. 
• A big thank you to Hannah Hunter for co-hosting this season of The Animal Highlight
• Co-hosted by Claudia Hirtenfelder and Hannah Hunter. 
• This episode was produced by Claudia Hirtenfelder and edited by Christiaan Mentz. 
• The logo and episode artwork were created by Rebecca Shen. 
• Show notes compiled by Claudia Hirtenfelder