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May 17, 2005

Call of the Wild?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? So it's always interesting to see who is mimicking who.

Sure, we know all about talking parrots and mimicking dolphins - but what happens when it's unintentional?

Now, African elephants are mimicking the sounds of trucks that drive on the highway by their habitats!

Zoologist Joyce Poole was the first to notice some rather unelephantine noises emanating from a group of semiwild, orphaned elephants in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. She managed to track the sounds to a female named Mlaika.

...

Poole said others in Mlaika's group have been heard to make a similar noise, which is quite different from any call previously recorded in elephants.

Poole suspects Mlaika began mimicking traffic on the busy Nairobi-Mombassa highway because she got bored in her nighttime stockade located two miles (three kilometers) away from the road. "It was a sound she heard every night. Just after sunset sound travels well on the savanna."

More at: Elephants Can Mimic Traffic, Other Noises, Study Says

Also, long before Star Wars, Minke Whales were making light-saber sounds to attract their mates. This is more a case of art imitating life, though. Isn't it?

Ever since Luke Skywalker fired up his lightsaber, the sounds of Star Wars movies have been mimicked by battling boys the world over. Now, a scientist believes male dwarf minke whales may make a sci-fi sound to attract females.

More at: "Star Wars" Sound Traced to Dwarf Minke Whales

Posted by sorsha at May 17, 2005 4:43 PM