Vocalizations and vocal mimicry in captive harbor seals, Phoca vitulina

Vocalizations recorded from captive harbor seals are described and illustrated. Pups of both sexes vocalized, but females over 1 year of age rarely vocalized. Sexually mature males were the most vocal animals. Two adult males produced sounds that mimicked one or more English words and phrases, which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Ralls, Katherine, Fiorelli, Patricia, Gish, Sheri
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1985
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z85-157
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z85-157
Description
Summary:Vocalizations recorded from captive harbor seals are described and illustrated. Pups of both sexes vocalized, but females over 1 year of age rarely vocalized. Sexually mature males were the most vocal animals. Two adult males produced sounds that mimicked one or more English words and phrases, which is noteworthy in view of the rarity of demonstrated vocal learning in mammals. Although similar in many ways to other seal sounds, these speechlike sounds contained a variety of human speech cues. We speculate that male harbor seals may mimic other males in the wild.