Besides being an adorable and important part of marine ecosystems, baby seals might have a unusual ability. They can change the pitch of their voices to be better understood, like humans do, a new study found.
A person or animal using this trait is being what's called"vocally plastic," or adjusting their vocal signals in response to environmental changes that overlap or cover up their voices, according to the study published Monday in the journal Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B. Being able to clearly and accurately communicate is important for mating opportunities, escaping from predators and social learning, the authors wrote.
This behavior, called the Lombard effect, is typical for human speech when people talk louder to be more understandable, the authors said. The seals might have lowered their pitch since lower-frequency sounds travel farther in windy environments like the one projected by the recorded audio, said Caroline Casey, a research scientist and adjunct professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences and ocean sciences department.
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