We already know whales can gossip, but new research has found that orcas are also capable of imitating human speech.
The Guardian reports that scientists have found that orcas can copy the words for “hello,” “bye bye,” and “one, two, three.” Unfortunately, “we have no evidence that they understand what their ‘hello’ stands for,” study co-author Josep Call said.
Here’s Wikie, the 14-year-old whale from the study, in action:
Anyway, because a lot of animal content on the internet often turns out to actually be kind of a bummer when you look into it: It’s been pointed out that Wikie is being held captive at the Marineland theme park in France which, if you’ve been emotionally destroyed by Blackfish, you know is far from an ideal situation for a whale.
But I leave you with this hopeful thought: Maybe one day, whales won’t just gossip among each other, but actually talk shit about us, to us.
