Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
 — 
See All Episodes
Subscribe

Hey, LA listener!

Download our app for the optimal streaming experience

Apple Store logo Google play logo
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
Take Two

Noc the beluga whale mimicked human speech patterns

By Take Two Staff
Published Oct 23, 2012
A visitor admires a beluga or white whale, the latest attraction at the Beijing aquarium on September 20, 2011. Beijing is expecting a surge of tourist arrivals during the upcoming national day holidays.
A visitor admires a beluga or white whale, the latest attraction at the Beijing aquarium on September 20, 2011. Beijing is expecting a surge of tourist arrivals during the upcoming national day holidays.
(
STR/AFP/Getty Images
)

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

Get LA News Updates Daily

We brief you on what you need to know about L.A. today.
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Listen 4:54
Noc the beluga whale mimicked human speech patterns

New research shows the first documented case of a whale spontaneously mimicking human speech. Producer Meghan McCarty explains the curious case of Noc, the talking white whale.



Listen to Noc the Beluga whale warbling in a human voice, several octaves lower than typical whale calls. The National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego first made the discovery in 1984 when they heard mumbling coming from a tank containing whales and dolphins that sounded like two people chatting far away. The research was published on Monday.