In 2012, researchers in the US discovered a beluga whale whose vocalisations were remarkably close to human speech. While dolphins have been taught to mimic the pattern and durations of sounds in human speech, no animal has spontaneously tried such mimicry.

美國的研究人員2012年發現白鯨的發聲系統和人類的極其相似。雖然人們曾對海豚進行培訓讓它們來模仿人類的發聲習慣和長度，但是至今為止不曾有動物會自發的去模仿人類的聲音。