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You've probably heard parrots parrot human speech. But what about this? That strange kazooing sound is from a whale.
你可能聽說過鸚鵡學舌。但你聽說過白鯨也會模仿奇怪的卡祖笛聲嗎？
It's a captive beluga whale named NOC. And researchers say it's his attempt to mimic the sound of humans talking.
這是一頭被鋪的白鯨，它名叫NOC。研究人員說，它試圖模仿人類的談話聲。
Back in 1984 a diver at the National Marine Mammal Foundation surfaced from the whale tank, and said, "Who told me to get out?" Turns out, no one did. Well, no human did. The "out" sound came from NOC the whale.
追溯到1984年，一名國家海洋哺乳動物基金會的潛水員從鯨魚坦克中浮出水面，問是誰讓他出來？事實證明，沒有人讓他出來。他聽到的“出來”來自于白鯨 NOC。
When researchers compared recordings of NOC to human speech, they found that the rhythm of his utterings indeed matched that of humans. So did the pitch, at several octaves lower than the whales' usual clicks and whistles. NOC made these 'human' sounds by tweaking the pressures in his nasal cavity, and stretching a pair of vibrating lip-like structures within his blowhole. Their research appears in the journal Current Biology.
當研究人員把 NOC 的錄音與人類的聲音進行比較時，發現它的發音節奏與人類的相匹配。音高也一樣，只不過有幾處聲音的振幅比白鯨平時的敲擊聲和鳴叫聲要低。NOC 通過用鼻腔調整壓力，在噴氣孔拉伸一對類唇結構而發出“人”聲。他們的研究刊登在《當代生物學》期刊上。
For centuries, sailors have called belugas "sea canaries," for their musical squeaks and chirps. But this beluga turned out to be less canary and more parrot.
幾世紀以來，水手們一直稱白鯨為“海上金絲雀”，因為它們的叫聲悅耳動聽。不過白鯨似乎像鸚鵡的地方更多一點。
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