Vocal Development in a Beluga Calf (Delphinapterus leucas)
Abstract
Acoustic communication is central to the socioecology of cetaceans. Knowledge of the ontogeny of their extensive repertoires is scant, and even less is known about the role of learning in vocal development. To examine these issues, the development of calls of one male beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) calf was systematically studied at the Vancouver Aquarium throughout his first year of life and opportunistically through his second and third years. He vocalized within the first hour after birth, producing exclusively low energy, broadband pulse trains. Both the dominant frequency and the pulse repetition rate of the pulsed calls increased with age. He acquired rudimentary whistles at 2 wks of age. During the second month, whistle production increased substantially. Whistle dominant frequency tended to increase with age, and at least in his first year, whistles did not attain full stereotypy. The calf started using mixed call types consistently at 4 mo. While some sounds tended to be more variable at later ages, his mixed calls progressively lost variability and increasingly resembled his mother’s most predominant stereotyped mixed call type. By 20 mo, this call type was fully stereotyped. Six months after he was exposed to his father’s sounds, he incorporated one of his father’s call types into his repertoire. These findings are discussed in light of current theories of sound production mechanisms in odontocetes, developmental stages of vocal acquisition, and vocal learning.
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Belugas show the capacity for both vocal and behavioral imitation.
“This species shows the capacity for both vocal and behavioral imitation.”
From Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) (2026) · cites this paper as [40]
Belugas are vocal learners.
“Belugas are vocal learners [40] and have been referred to as the canaries of the sea due to their proclivity for vocal imitation.”
From Evidence for mirror self-recognition in beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) (2026) · cites this paper as [40]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Vergara, V., & Barrett-Lennard, L. G.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- ORCID
- Vergara, Valeria
- Venue
- Aquatic Mammals
- Publisher
- Aquatic Mammals Journal
- Published
- 2008-01-01
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 123-143
- ISSN
- 0167-5427 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2027916946
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Aquatic Mammals (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- beluga whale, vocal development, acoustic communication, vocal learning, pulsed calls, whistles, cetacean social behavior
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