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A new study has found that dolphin mothers use different sounds to communicate with their young than those they use with adults.
一项新的研究发现，海豚妈妈与幼崽交流时发出的声音和与成年海豚交流时发出的声音不同。
The research suggests that the use of the special sounds is similar to the way adult humans use so-called "baby talk" with children.
研究表明，这种特殊声音类似于成年人对儿童所说的“婴儿语”。
Female bottlenose dolphins change the tone and length of their whistle when calling and communicating with their young, the study found.
研究发现，雌性宽吻海豚在呼唤和与幼崽交流时会改变哨声的音调和长度。
Male dolphins do not play a big part in raising young.
雄性海豚在哺育幼崽的过程中所起的作用并不大。
The so-called "signature whistle" is an important part of communication for dolphins.
所谓的“专属哨声”是海豚交流的重要部分。
Researchers say changing the whistle tone permits female dolphins to signal their young that the communication is meant for them.
研究人员表示，改变哨声的音调可以让雌性海豚向幼崽发出信号，表明这种交流是针对它们的。
Scientists say the signals are similar to humans calling someone by name.
科学家表示，这些信号类似于人类叫别人的名字。
The research team recorded signature whistles of 19 mother dolphins living in the Sarasota Bay area along the western coast of Florida.
研究小组记录了19只生活在佛罗里达州西海岸萨拉索塔湾地区的海豚妈妈的“专属哨声”。
Microphones were repeatedly placed on the same wild dolphin mothers to capture the recordings.
麦克风被反复放在相同的野生海豚妈妈身上，以捕捉录音。
On average, young dolphins stay with their mothers for about three years in Sarasota Bay.
平均而言，萨拉索塔湾的小海豚和它们的母亲待在一起的时间大约是三年。
The research was carried out over a period of more than 30 years.
这项研究进行了30多年。
A study describing the findings was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
一项描述这一发现的研究最近发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。
Laela Sayigh is an ocean biologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
莱拉·萨伊是马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的海洋生物学家。
She was a co-writer of the study.
她是这项研究的合著者。
Sayigh told The Associated Press the animals at times "use these whistles to keep track of each other."
莱拉告诉美联社，这种动物有时“使用这些哨声来追踪彼此。”
The length and tone of the sounds changed "for every one of the moms in the study, all 19 of them," said biologist and study co-writer Peter Tyack.
生物学家、该研究合著者彼得·泰克说，“研究中的19只海豚妈妈声音的长度和音调都发生了变化。”
Tyack is with the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
泰克就职于苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学。
Scientists do not know exactly why people, dolphins and other creatures use baby talk to communicate with their young.
科学家并不清楚人类、海豚和其他生物使用婴儿语与幼崽交流的原因。
But they believe it may help the young learn many important sounds.
但他们认为，这可能会帮助幼崽学习许多重要的声音。
Research dating back to the 1980s suggests young human babies may pay more attention to speech with a number of different tones.
追溯到20世纪80年代的研究表明，人类婴儿可能会更注意不同音调的语音。
For example, female rhesus monkeys may change their calls to seek and hold a young animal's attention.
例如，雌性恒河猴可能会改变它们的叫声来吸引年轻恒河猴的注意。
And zebra finch birds slow their songs and use higher tones to communicate with young.
斑胸草雀放慢歌声，用更高的音调与幼鸟交流。
For the dolphin study, the researchers centered only on the signature call.
对于海豚的研究，研究人员只关注“专属哨声”。
So they do not know if the animals also use baby talk for other communication — or whether it helps their young learn to "talk" as it seems to do with humans.
因此，他们不知道这种动物是否也会利用婴儿语进行其他交流——或者这是否有助于它们的幼崽像人类一样学习“说话”。
"It would make sense if there are similar changes in bottlenose dolphins — a long lived, highly acoustic species,” said Frants Jensen.
弗朗茨·詹森说：“如果宽吻海豚也有类似的变化，这就说得通了——宽吻海豚是一种寿命长、声音塑造能力很强的物种。”
He is a behavioral ecologist at Denmark's Aarhus University and also a co-writer of the study.
他是丹麦奥胡斯大学的行为生态学家，也是这项研究的合著者。
Another possible reason for using different tones is so the dolphin mothers can catch the attention of their young, said Georgetown University ocean biologist, Janet Mann.
乔治城大学海洋生物学家珍妮特·曼恩说，海豚妈妈使用不同音调的另一原因可能是为了吸引幼崽的注意。
She was not involved in the study.
她没有参与这项研究。
"It's really important for a (young dolphin) to know 'Oh, mom is talking to me now,'" Mann said.
曼恩说：“对小海豚来说，知道‘哦，妈妈正在和我说话’是很重要的。”
I'm Bryan Lynn.
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
