A killer whale has been taught by scientists to copy human speech.

The researchers were studying a 14-year-old female killer whale named Wikie, who was well-trained and had been taught how to copy behaviours in a previous study.

Wikie was recorded mimicking English words like “hello”, “bye bye” and “one two”, as well as the name of her trainer, Amy.

“Killer whales use their blowhole to make noises, almost like speaking out of your nose, so we were not expecting it to be perfect,” said Dr Jose Abramson, a researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid, who led the study.
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Despite their intelligence, other primates are not generally capable of such imitation.

However, cetaceans – the mammal group that includes whales and dolphins – are known to be highly adept when it comes to vocal imitation. Both bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales have been observed copying noises they are exposed to. - Independent UK