Why does a Beluga whale calf develop regional 'dialects' regarding its signal repertoire, despite an innate predisposition for species-specific calls?

💡 Explanation

Beluga calves exhibit vocal learning, which allows adaptation of their call repertoire to match their social group. This involves context-specific modification of innate calls. This enables communication efficiency within the group, therefore, vocal learning explains dialect formation, rather than genetic drift or mutation, which are less context-sensitive.

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