The dolphins spontaneously began mimicking the computer-generated whistles when they played independently with the corresponding toy, like kids tossing a ball and naming it “ball, ball, ball,” Reiss told me. At the time, The New York Times ran a front-page story heralding the discovery of a “rudimentary ‘language’” in vervet monkeys. When other Japanese tits heard a recording of the vocalization, which Suzuki dubbed the “jar jar” call, they searched the ground, as if looking for a snake. But then he played a recording of the “jar jar” call. Like a word, the “jar jar” call had changed their perception.

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Persons: Reiss, ” Reiss, “, ”, Robert Seyfarth, Dorothy Cheney, ” Toshitaka Suzuki, Suzuki Organizations: New York Times, University of Tokyo Locations: Northern California, Kenya, East