New Insights Into Dolphin Communication From Sarasota Study

Researchers have uncovered fascinating details about how bottlenose dolphins use signature whistles and shared whistle types to communicate in the wild.

Mar. 24, 2026 at 12:00am

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Laela Sayigh, a senior research specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has been studying dolphin communication in the wild for decades as part of the long-running Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. The program has allowed researchers to record and observe the communication of a resident community of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins, providing unprecedented insights. Sayigh and her colleagues have confirmed that wild dolphins, like captive animals, produce individually distinctive signature whistles, and have also discovered shared non-signature whistle types that may serve different functions like alarm calls or expressions of surprise.

Why it matters

Understanding dolphin communication is important for conservation efforts and gaining insights into the cognitive and social capabilities of these highly intelligent marine mammals. The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program's long-term dataset on a known dolphin community provides a unique opportunity to study communication in the wild, building on foundational research from the 1960s.

The details

Sayigh and her team attach suction-cup hydrophones to the foreheads of dolphins during brief health assessments, allowing them to continuously record the animals' vocalizations. They have identified signature whistles, which convey individual identity, as well as shared non-signature whistle types that may serve different communicative functions. The researchers are using playback experiments and drone footage to better understand how dolphins use these various whistle types in their complex social relationships and behaviors.

  • The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program began in 1970 and is the longest-running research project on a population of wild cetaceans in the world.
  • Sayigh joined the research team in the mid-1980s, when she began documenting signature whistles in wild dolphins for the first time.

The players

Laela Sayigh

A senior research specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has been studying dolphin communication in the wild for decades as part of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.

Peter Tyack

Sayigh's mentor, who joined her in documenting signature whistles in wild dolphins for the first time.

Randall Wells

The lead researcher of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, a collaborative study involving numerous researchers from various institutions.

John Lilly

A scientist who conducted early research into dolphin communication in the 1960s.

Melba and David Caldwell

A husband-and-wife research team who discovered that each individual dolphin communicated mostly with one unique "signature whistle" in the 1960s.

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What they’re saying

“This is how my colleagues and I were able to confirm that wild dolphins, like captive animals, produced large numbers of individually distinctive signature whistles when briefly isolated from other dolphins.”

— Laela Sayigh, Senior Research Specialist, Cetacean Communication, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

“We have also found that once developed, signature whistles are highly stable over an animal's lifetime, especially for females. Males often form strong pair bonds with another adult male, and in some instances, their whistles become more similar to one another over time.”

— Laela Sayigh, Senior Research Specialist, Cetacean Communication, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

What’s next

Sayigh and her team plan to continue their playback experiments and drone filming to better understand the functions of the shared non-signature whistle types they have identified, as well as sample more dolphins in different social contexts to further explore the complexity of dolphin communication.

The takeaway

The long-running Sarasota Dolphin Research Program has provided an unprecedented opportunity to study dolphin communication in the wild, leading to fascinating new insights about how these highly social and intelligent marine mammals use signature whistles and shared whistle types to interact and express themselves in their natural habitat.