News from the front porch
Have you heard the birds singing more choruses lately? It is as if they are trying to sing in spring's arrival. Did you know that you can tell by a bird's dialect where it spends the winter? Birds, like some other creatures, do have different dialects depending on where they live.
Killer whales have 17 different calls that are reflected in their dialects. Some killer whales are homebodies, staying in the same area for all of their lives. These whales stick to a diet of local fish and do not create problems for local harbor seals on the North American West Coast. Other killer whales form groups that hunt together and cruise up and down the coast. These gangs are not satisfied with fish and they particularly crave harbor seals. Researchers recorded the calls of both groups and noted that the calls of each group have differing qualities which amount to differing dialects. They also found that harbor seals can recognize the difference in whale speech. The whales' calls are at a frequency that fish cannot hear, but the seals can hear them very well. Seals ignore the calls of local, fish-eating whales, but when a killer whale gang appears in their neighborhood, harbor seals leave quickly.
Some species of toothed whales and dolphins can take dialect to the next level and create explosively loud, focused sound beams underwater which literally stun the fish they eat. Bottle-nosed dolphins have been observed to emit sounds louder than 228 decibels by making more than 1,000 clicks a minute, nearly the same as a blasting cap under water. It seems they quite literally catch fish with dynamite! Sperm whales can outdo the dolphin's blasting cap by generating 265 decibels.
The ability to communicate and interpret communication are gifts from God, not just to us humans but clearly also to His other creatures. The wonders to be discovered in the living world beautifully blend and harmonize even the most subtle principles of communication, dialect, chemistry, physics and biology in very creative and imaginative ways. We have a wonderful, powerful and glorious Creator.
"Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the Earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; He offers strength to the weak." Isaiah 40: 28,29 NLT
Dianne Brady is an author and speaker and can be reached at dbrady@a4isp.com.