Doctor Curmudgeon® Talk to Me Baby!
By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist
Looking at a baby, the urge overcomes me. There are times when it is even embarrassing. Especially to those around me.
I have no idea why this happens. It can be any kind of baby: kitten, puppy, lion cub, the newborn of a dragon.
I begin to find myself wanting to babble away
My voice becomes higher in pitch and odd sounds emanate from my larynx.
But, fortunately, a new study finds that my behavior is not aberrant.
Having great respect for dolphins, I am pleased to learn that Dolphin mothers are not different from human mothers in that respect.
A recent study makes me feel more comfortable about my cooing to babies. It has been discovered that bottlenose dolphin mothers use a different high pitched tone when communicating with their calves.
Dr. Laela Sayigh is a marine biologist. She has been studying dolphins at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Hampshire College in Massachusetts. She has also done research in Florida’s Sarasota Bay observing wild bottlenose dolphins.
Dolphin mothers care for their young for about three years. It is not unusual for young dolphins to stay with their mothers for as long as six years.
Dr. Sayigh’s studies began in the 1980s. It has been learned that dolphin mothers have signature whistles that are completely out of the range of our hearing.
In Florida’s Sarasota Bay studies, suction cups were used to attach hydrophones to dolphins’ foreheads. This enabled the recordings to be studied.
The whistles of the mothers became higher when they were directed at their calves.
Dr. Sayigh said,” They use these whistles to keep track of each other. They’re periodically saying, ‘I’m here.”
During the decades of studying dolphins, researchers learned that each mother’s signature is unique to her. In this way, a mother can keep track of her own offspring.
It does not appear that dolphins use these “baby talk” vocalizations for other interactions.
“This was true for every one of the moms in the study,” said Dr. Peter Tyack, a biologist from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who was a co-author of this intriguing study.
Dr. Janet Mann, a marine biologist and distinguished professor at Georgetown University said, “It’s really important for a calf to know ‘Oh, Mom is talking to me now…versus just announcing her presence to someone else.”
Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.
Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon
Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.
SERMO www.sermo.com
Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt