Dolphins use baby talk to round up the family. My parents just yelled.

 

 

 

When my parents wanted to get my attention, they did what 99.99% of parents do: Yell.  When dolphins need to round up their chirruns they use baby talk. 

In study by PNAS and an article from AP:

"Motherese” is a speech pattern that is nearly universal across cultures and languages in human caregivers interacting with children, but evidence among nonhuman species is sparse. Here, we report evidence for motherese in the bottlenose dolphin, a species that shows parallels to humans in their long-term mother–offspring bonds and lifelong vocal learning. They use these whistles to keep track of each other. They’re periodically saying, ‘I’m here, I’m here’,” said study co-author Laela Sayigh, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution marine biologist in Massachusetts".

Dolphins are remarkable animals. Those of you who are part of the Werther's Generation may remember the TV show Flipper. 

Flipper was the HBIC* and companion animal of Chief Warden Porter Ricks at the family's marine preserve. She (yes, Flipper was bad ass female) used her intelligence to solve the weekly drama the family somehow managed to find themselves in. The Ricks never seemed to get their shit together so it was up to Flipper to use what we now know as "motherese" to keep them in line and out of trouble. I would have forgone using baby talk on the Ricks family. Yelling at them with a megaphone would have been more effective. Better yet, have Shamu knock some sense into them with her chancla tail.

Source:  AP News; PNAS
*HBIC = head bitch in charge