Captive beluga whale in San Diego learns to mimic human voices

PHOENIX - A captive beluga whale reportedly learned to mimic human voices, according to a report from Yahoo.com .

Researchers thought they heard a human conversation near the beluga whale enclosure, and were shocked when they discovered the whale was the one making the noise.

Watch video of the beluga "speaking", embedded in the player below.

NOC the whale reportedly lived at San Diego's national Marine Mammal Foundation for 30 years, but died in 2007. Yahoo reported that the story about NOC's ability to "talk" was only recently released in a biology publication.

According to Yahoo, one diver reported hearing NOC say the word "out" repeatedly after he had been in captivity for seven years. The diver reportedly believed that NOC was asking to be set free.

Yahoo reported that beluga whales communicate with clicks, whistles and clangs in the wild, and added that they have been known to mimic other sounds.

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