Tool developed to track dolphins by their ‘regional accent’

It can categorise dolphin calls by species and comes in different versions linked to different geographical areas

Dolphins develop region-specific accents, meaning a bottlenose dolphin in the North Sea may produce different sounds compared with one in the Pacific. Picture: Julie Oswald/PA

A sea mammal expert has developed a groundbreaking tool that can track dolphins by their regional accents.

Dr Julie Oswald, of the University of St Andrews’ Scottish Oceans Institute, created the tool, known as the Real-time Odontocete Call Classification Algorithm (Rocca), using AI.