共用题干

共用题干
Irish Dolphins May Have a Unique Dialect

Irish scientists monitoring dolphins living in a river estuary in the southwest of the country believe they
may have developed a unique dialect to communicate with each other.
The Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation(SDWF)has been studying a group of up to 120 bottle-
nose dolphins in the River Shannon using vocalizations（发声）collected on a computer in a cow shed near the
River Shannon.
As part of a research project,student Ronan Hickey digitized and analyzed a total of 1,882 whistles from
the Irish dolphins and those from the Welsh dolphins on a computer and separated theni into six fundamental
whistle types and 32 different categories.Of the categories,he found most were used by both sets of dol-
phins一but eight were only heard from the Irish dolphins.
"We are building up a catalogue of the different whistle types they use and trying to associate them with
behavior like foraging（觅食）,resting, socializing and the communications of grown.ups with calves (幼
仔）,"project leader Simon Berrow said.“Essentially we are building up what is like a dictionary of words
they use or sounds they mnake."
Berrow,a marine biologist,said the dolphins'clicks are used to find their way around and locate prey.
The whistles are communications."They do a whole range 0f other sounds like barks．groans and a kind of
gunshot," he said. "The gunshot is an intense pulse（脉冲）of sound. Sperm whales use it to stun（击昏）
their prey.”
"When I first heard it I was surprised as I thought sperm whales were the onlyh species who used it. We
can speculate the dolphins are using it for the same reason as the sperm whales,"Berrow said.
References in local legend indicate there have been dolphins in the Shannon estuary for generations and
they may even have been residents there as far back as the 6th century.
They are regularly seen by passengers on the Shannon ferry and an estimated 25.000 tourists every year
take special sightseeing tours on local boats to visit them.

Sperm whales were the only species that can use pulses of sound to stun their prey.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned