Lone Dolphin In Baltic Sea Apparently Talking To Himself

Why might a wild dolphin talk to himself?

Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins, a mother and her offspring. (Credit: Brandon Trentler / CC BY 2.0)

When you are alone, especially for long periods of time, do you talk to yourself? If so, you’re in interesting company because a male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin who has been living alone in the Baltic Sea for more than three years, appears to be talking to himself.

Bottlenose dolphins are highly social oceanic mammals that live in large fisson-fusion groups known as pods. They are toothed whales that are common, cosmopolitan members of the family of oceanic dolphins, the Delphinidae.