How to talk to penguins (videos)

Scientists in Italy have discovered how one penguin tells another penguin: I am lonely, I am angry, I love you or I am experiencing "mutual ecstasy" with another penguin.

SCIENCE

How to talk to penguins

Scientists have discovered that penguins have their own language that they use to communicate important things to other penguins. They make six short sounds or "calls" to express different emotions or feelings ranging from loneliness, to anger, to love, to mutually experienced ecstasy.

Scientists at the University of Turin in Italy studied the behaviour of 48 so-called "jackass penguins" from Africa living at a local zoo, making video and audio recordings as well as spectrographs of the sounds they made from which statistics were gathered and published in the open source online science academic journal named "PLOS One".

When penguins are alone and by themselves, isolated from their group or their mate they make so-called "contact calls". They also make sounds to show aggression during fights or when they are confronting another penguin and these are known as "agonistic calls". Single penguins make an "ecstatic display song" during the mating season and penguin couples (or nesting partners) sing a duet to each other known as a "mutual display song".

Baby penguins make special sounds when they are hungry called "begging calls". Two short peep or cheep sounds means they want food from adults.  These high-pitched begging peeps can be emitted by baby penguins for several minutes, in much the same way that human babies use crying to get food or milk from their mothers.  When the babies are out of the nest and want food they make a special "begging moan".

Like song birds which encode information in "bird calls", Penguins encode information in the sounds they make. The jackass penguins are now classified as an endangered species and are native to the coasts of the African countries South Africa and Namibia. They get their name from the donkey-like grunts they make during their so-called "ecstatic display song".

VIDEOS

The "ecstatic display song" is the longest and loudest sound the penguins make. To announce that are available for mating the penguin spreads their feet, stretches their neck and points their face upward and holds their wings out to the sides while making a donkey sound that earned these penguins the name "jackass penguins":

The "mutual ecstatic song" is sung after a girl penguin finally meets the boy penguin and they sing this duet, especially when other penguins intrude on their privacy:

The "agonistic call" is used when fighting or to warn other penguins to stay away. The penguin stretches their neck out toward the other penguin they want to warn:

 

Baby penguins under 3 months old make high-pitched "begging peeps" for many minutes until their parents regurgitate food for them:

"Begging moans" are made by children until they are fed or their parents go away:

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