The characteristics of the whistling signal reveal the uniqueness of the Chinese white dolphins in Hainan

The characteristics of the whistling signal reveal the uniqueness of the Chinese white dolphins in Hainan

The characteristics of the whistling signal reveal the uniqueness of the Hainan Chinese White Dolphin.

The cover of the current issue of the journal (the Chinese white dolphin photo was taken by Dr.
Lin Mingli in Yacheng, Sanya on June 2015)

The cover of the current issue of the journal (the Chinese white dolphin photo was taken by Dr.
Lin Mingli in Yacheng, Sanya on June 2015)

Recently, the research results of Li Songhai's team, a researcher at the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, were published in the journal Marine Mammal Science in the form of a cover paper
.

The research results reveal the difference between the whistling call characteristics of the newly recorded Chinese white dolphin population in the southwestern seas of Hainan and other Chinese white dolphin populations and other species of llama dolphins, and point out that the whistling voice signal characteristics of the Chinese white dolphin have adaptation to environmental noise Sex

Dolphins frequent use of underwater sound to perceive the environment, looking for prey, avoid predators and communicate with the same, and so on
.

Narrowband FM whistles are believed to be mainly used for communication between individuals in animal societies, similar to human language

The Chinese White Dolphin is one of the four species of the genus Camelus porpoise.
It has been assessed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is a national first-class protected animal in China
.

In China, the Chinese white dolphins are mainly scattered in the southeast coast, including Xiamen Bay, the west coast of Taiwan Island, the mouth of the Pearl River, Zhanjiang, the Beibu Gulf and the southwest seas of Hainan

Photo courtesy of the Marine Mammal Research Team of the Deep Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hainan Chinese White Dolphin 

Hainan Chinese White DolphinChinese Academy of deep-sea marine mammal research team for the drawing Chinese Academy of Sciences

The study identified 6 signal types from the 226 whistles collected in the southwestern waters of Hainan, including linear, upward sweep, convex, concave, downward sweep and sinusoidal
.

Among them, the straight type is the most common, and the convex type is the least

Studies have shown that the time-frequency characteristics of whistling sounds are more similar between geographically adjacent camel dolphin populations
.

The whistles of different geographical populations of Chinese white dolphins in the waters of China are similar to each other, while the Malaysian Chinese white dolphin populations are closer to the Australian and Indian llama dolphin populations in their whistling characteristics

Photo courtesy of the Marine Mammal Research Team of the Deep Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hainan Chinese White Dolphin 

Hainan Chinese White DolphinChinese Academy of deep-sea marine mammal research team for the drawing Chinese Academy of Sciences

The research results are of great significance for assessing the isolation status of different geographical populations of Chinese white dolphins in the seas of China and the impact of underwater noise on these populations
.

The diversity of Chinese white dolphin whistles may reflect the acoustic environment differences in the local habitat environment, the differences in animal geographic populations, or the isolation status of the populations

Related paper information: https://doi.

https://doi.
org/10.
1111/mms.
12816