This was reported by the BBC 8 days ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/6669469.stm

I thought it was the Daily Star which recycled old news stories to pad out their content...?

No big deal, we've known since 1990 that killer whales have distinct "dialects".

(Dayton, Leigh; "Killer Whales Communicate in Distinct 'Dialects,'" New Scientist, p. 35, March 10, 1990.)

Researchers were shocked today to discover that an insular group of sea-mammals displayed absolutely no distinctive characteristics or behaviours.

"Frankly I'm shocked," one researcher said, visibly shocked. "We expected to find differences and there were none."

Others were more dismissive. "Of course, common sense would tell you that isolated groups of mammals would begin to display unique behaviour patterns but"

cont. page 94

The sounds distinct to the welsh dolphins were "Watch out! He's the one the sheep warned us about!"

knowing the Shannon area well, you will find that the sea faring mammels have 13 words for rain.

Graham Dawson - how are they insular exactly? And how do you know so much about regional groupings of dolphins?