5 hours g.m.t. Welcome to the news room I'm chemical tunnel the u.s. Welcomes talks between North and South Korea but says any dialogue they have with the North must have nuclear disarmament as the end game in Nigeria the 2nd major kidnapping of schoolgirls in recent years 110 missing the government says it will not rest until they're found. That no stone will be left telling him the determination to rescue these girls in Spain. On his 1st visit to Catalonia since last year's failed independence bit King Philippe is met with angry protests from council and separatists and that if we fail. Including the United States we begin to be a bit on the new docket be affair that could have compromised Winston Churchill during the 2nd World War This is the nice room. B.b.c. News Hello I'm Gareth Barlow South Korea said it hopes the United States and North Korea will begin direct talks as soon as possible to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear weapons dispute South Korea's unification minister germ union told the b.b.c. He wanted to maintain the diplomatic momentum achieved during the Winter Olympics couldn't talk turkey going to air what is really emphasized that it is necessary that we continue with the momentum to improve the intercom relations we found that North Korea also wants to continue this very positive situations but at the same time we did convey the message to the North Koreans multiple times saying that in order to improve the the relations between the 2 countries we need to see what the new close ation of the Korean Peninsula and to solve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully North Korea said it is ready for dialogue with the u.s. But the White House has said any talks must lead to the end of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs health workers in the Syrian rebel enclave of eastern go to say at least 18 people have been treated for symptoms consistent with exposure to chlorine gas a child is said to suffocated the Syrian government has always denied using chemical weapons Mohammed Khateeb from the Syrian American Medical Society is monitoring the situation from Turkey chemical weapons have been used since $28.00 per of the now almost 200 committal attacks that reported so I want to medical staff especially in this area which have been under siege since 5 years now so there's a shortage amid the sender's know what capacity to face such an attack there's nobbut action years even for the rescue teams some of these 2 teams which all the people from the attacked area even were contaminated Hungary's governing Fidesz Party has suffered a shock defeat in America lection in the southern town of how messy. Vasher hay one of its strongholds the result comes weeks before a general election in which the Prime Minister Viktor Oban will seek a 3rd consecutive term the opposition victory in the local election is being seen as an upset of nationwide proportions Nigeria's information minister Lima Hammett says police and security officials have been sent to schools in the state to tear attacks from insurgents after meeting parents Mr Mohammed promise to find the 110 girls missing since Boko Haram militants attacked their school the security. Situation that this girl was in as a possible. World Why surely no stone will be left unturned in determination to. Rescue these girls well as news from of the b.b.c. King Philippe of Spain has been met with protests on his 1st visit to Catalonia since last year's failed independence bad place held back a crowd of hundreds of people chanting anti Monica slogans as he arrived in Barcelona for the opening of the Mobile World Congress technology fat. 3 Venezuelan men have been shot dead in northeastern Colombia in a tank a local authorities are blamed on the left wing rebel group the men were killed by suspected rebels on motorbikes in the border town of t.v. Where many drug trafficking and smuggling gangs operate the Colombian government suspended peace talks to the 11 last month after a series of deadly attacks. Relatives of the 44 crew of an Argentine submarine that was lost in mid November have begun raising funds for a private search to help locate the San Juans submarine the government suspended a massive operation in the South Atlantic 15 days after the vessel last made contact with its base Leonardo Russia reports relatives of the victims have opened an account in an audience sandbank asking for public donations to help locate their son who on submarine they never accepted the government's decision to call off the mega search operation which involved vessels and planes from many countries the Arjan time government said they had exhausted by then all possibilities of finding any of the $44.00 crew alive the disappearance of the submarine remains a mystery the Navy said the loud noise consistent with an underwater explosion was registered in the area around the time it went missing but no trace of the vessel has been found the last 2 victims of the earthquake in Taiwan at the beginning of the month have finally been removed from the rubble of the hotel where they died the couple both from Beijing in their seventy's had been on holiday in the town of Holly and when the earthquake hit 3 other family members were also killed b.b. Sing eighty's. You're listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service with me Clare McDonnell not until the nuclear program is gone that is the response from Washington after North Korea indicated it is ready for talks with the South and possibly the u.s. Too despite what appears to be a significant diplomatic thaw at the end of the Winter Olympics in Chang any talk of diplomacy with North Korea is still met with caution The B.B.C.'s David Willis explains why the u.s. Is playing hardball I think it's fair to say a White House statement released today saying North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear program must be the result of any u.s. Dialogue with North Korea now there are those who would argue that that doesn't amount to the u.s. Closing the door on talks with North Korea rather it just makes plain that denuclearization would have to be the central element of any talks that did take place it's pretty clear from this statement that the sanctions will continue until North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program what is the thinking then behind this seeming change of strategy from North Korea's point of view the delegation and that came to the Winter Olympics in South Korea the conversations that went on there seemingly holding out a hand to the rest of the world what is the thinking behind this while there is a shift in North Korea's tone or is it been warning the u.s. Of course of grave consequences over the latest round of sanctions announced last week by President Trump calling them tantamount to an act of war but the North Koreans also seem to be acknowledging that in order for relations between the north and the South to improve in order to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula the north also needs to improve its relationship with the you know. It states it's been on this charm offensive but that same spirit of limpid can gauge meant if you like hasn't extended to relations between North Korea and the United States there was that meeting planned involving the vice president Mike Pence the day after the opening ceremony that was canceled and then last week of course President Trump announced the heaviest ever sanctions against North Korea more sanctions and this red line the state saying we will not enter into any dialogue unless the dialogue begins with this condition that North Korea will abandon its nuclear program I mean are they absolutely sticking to that can we see talks at any point in the future where that isn't on the table while the White House statement says that as President Trump has pointed out a brighter path as it puts it exists for North Korea if it chooses to give up its nuclear weapons so I think the bottom line here Claire is that talks may or may not happen but sanctions continue until the north gives up its nukes David Willetts So given that Washington has rejected the offer how much can any talks really matter the South Korean politician charged with overseeing relations is the unification minister Joe Young gone he's been speaking to the B.B.C.'s Laura bicker in Seoul about improved relations took Uganda what is really emphasized that it is necessary that we continue with the momentum to improve the into current relations we found that North Korea also wants to continue this very positive situations but at the same time we did convey the message to the North Koreans multiple times saying that in order to improve the the relations between the 2 countries we need to see what the new causation of the Korean Peninsula and to solve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully it is necessary that North Korean the United States. Talks to each other to solve this in a peaceful manner and come to rest me so now we have a delegation led by at can you tell a more controversial figure aren't you worried as a government minister that there are families who believe that he is responsible for their families that they're going to loved ones that commitment. Has been pointed out as the person who's responsible for the tragic event of the sinking of turn naval ship in 2010 and we are aware that a lot of family members opposed the visit of commercial to South Korea but in the perspective of the Korean government it is important to push forward the into Korean relations and also to continue our efforts 14 of causation of the Korean peninsula and Kim Young told is the key figure who has the authority to discuss with these matters with the Korean government the next step is obviously to try to get the u.s. To talk to North Korea is that going to happen while the u.s. Delegation and the North Korean delegation are both here in South Korea because I'm going to. In order to solve the nuclear North Korean nuclear issue the current government thinks that the toll of between North Korea in the United States should soon start as soon as possible but we find it very difficult to expect or force focussed any possible meetings between the 2 locations yet South Korea's unification minister. To Nigeria now where people are coming to terms with the 2nd major kidnapping of schoolgirls in the last few years in 2014 more than 200 schoolgirls were taken by the Islamist group Boko Haram now the group has been blamed for another mass kidnapping in the town of Dempsey in the north east of the country the authorities have now admitted that 110 school go. A missing child because our is secretary of the abducted girls association his daughter Aisha is one of the girls who has been kidnapped we voice over his answer because of the Paul quality of the line. It is on comparable it's not the right time around 12 I am supposed to be asleep but I cannot sleep I'm just thinking when does she come back to me when does she come back to me I cannot eat well I cannot sleep well all that I know is what he said over the radio only this is disturbing me well installment of The Newsroom is James Copnall another mass kidnapping James what are the authorities saying they're going to do or are doing to bring these girls back well they're stressing they're doing everything in their powers to bring them back as quickly as possible that includes bringing a lot of the Nigerian Air Force up to northeastern Nigeria to your base state where this happened they've talked about bringing helicopters and other surveillance assets up to the area to carry out day and night patrols their ground efforts as well troops on the ground looking for They've set up hotlines so people can ring in with tips if they've got an idea where these girls might have been taken and they're also saying the Nigerian authorities they're going to put security forces in all the schools in the state to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again but it has happened again because we have the 2 book kidnapping how could a raid on a school like this take place how could so many girls go missing Well this is actually a matter of quite a lot of controversy in the country because the governor of your base a local state Abraham. Has said that troops were withdrawn from the town Dempsey about a week before the attack took place so essentially he's saying if the military having withdrawn his security forces this raid wouldn't have taken place I think the truth is that the Nigerian armed forces are facing quite a difficult task in northeastern Nigeria against Boko. Ram and so regrettably incidents like this or suicide bombings other attacks by the group do take place but it's certainly something that is causing an awful lot of anguish in the country right now and deeply embarrassing moment assume for the Nigerian government Yeah absolutely particularly because of what happened with Chibok and the criticism the previous government of the current government received over the last 100 schoolgirls still missing. With the chair book case as well Mohammed a Bihari the president has called it a national disaster and I think it's embarrassing for him too because he said in the past the buck around the group that apparently has taken these girls in that she had been defeated and yet they seem able to carry out a sort of attack in which more than 100 schoolgirls have been kidnapped James Copnall thank you you're listening to the newsroom with me Claire McDonnell now it's meant to be a normal function for spaying is King Philippe attending a trade event and promoting his country to the world but as he arrived in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress there were protests by Catalan separatists it was the king's 1st visit to Catalonia since last year's failed independence bit during the referendum campaign he had argued against Catalonia breaking away from Spain Katie Silver reports I am pots and pans and waving flags to independents in Katmandu they chanted We have peaceful people. They're getting to the visit of the country's monarch King Philippe accusing him of not paying attention to the region and of refusing to write dialogue between a central government and Catalan succession ists everybody was by Philip a gave a very tough speech against Catalonia and he was in favor of peace storming us on October the 1st they failed our leaders and he hasn't done anything for us asked about our injured people he hasn't cared at all about the Catalans Catalonia and our problems it was just after the. Speech he gave on the repression on the Catalan situation we are absolutely against him coming he's not welcome here and we are demonstrating against him. The king was in town for the start of the Mobile World Congress the largest international mobile technology showed he wants to make sure that state firmly in focus digital transformation is a key driver of wider social changes and both the global and the local scale we must accept this important and inevitable process as a challenge not as a threat. Not everyone was against him but pro Spain demonstrators came out as well their signs saying Long life to the King I was street clashes and arguments between the 2 groups showing just how divided the Catalonian region it's. Katie Silver with that report now Winston Churchill his is widely acknowledged as the leader who held the line as a person stood alone against Hitler's Germany during the 2nd World War But new research claims the politicians personal life was more complicated than previously thought an affair has been discovered that could have ruined his career and country that most perilous time the newsroom's Valerie Sanderson reports as Hitler's troops swept through Europe Winston Churchill's masterful speeches held his country together if we can Canada. Or Europe maybe breed and life in the world made for one. Family a plan. But if we fail then our world including the United States we begin to be a bit on the new Dark Age cometh the hour and come at the man with a huge personality a will to fight and it seemed at perfect partner and his wife Clementine who stood by him throughout their long happy and apparently faithful marriage but now it's a mess. That Churchill had a relationship during the 1930 s. With the socialite Doris Castle Ross as one of the academics involved in the research Warren Dr of Aberystwyth University in Wales explains Churchill and her you know they had a very pleasant relationship they enjoy each other and she sort of was sort of was a muse for him because he painted her at least 3 or 4 times with war threatening Churchill ended the relationship and Doris Castle Ross moved to the u.s. Eventually managing to secure a rare flight back to the u.k. During the war with the help of her former lover it was an affair he needed to keep secret the pressure on keeping in mind hanging the us special agent would have been very much in Churchill's mind and so anything that might damage that or smear is character I think he would have been worried about Doris Castle Ross died in the 1940 s. From an overdose of sleeping tablets Churchill's wife Clementine discovered what had happened later to war and Dr she's the hero of the story so all these decades on why should this matter this is a part of the enigma that is Winston Churchill these alternately so incredibly fascinating and there still loads of things to be discovered in the archives I mean who can say what what treasures it holds and this is one of the great things about you know Winston Churchill still very much a hero for me and I you know in no way am I doing this to Miss Marsham I just want to understand the man that's Warren Dr avarice with university ending that report from Valerie Santas an affair of Winston Churchill. You are listening to the newsroom. Well that's the sound of a protest against the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila these demonstrators were gathered outside a cathedral in the capital Kinshasa a protest organized by the Catholic Church Mr Kabaddi his mandate ran out well over a year ago but he is refusing to leave office because they come by Salah was one of those protesting. To be determined because we are suffering in our country we will much if the police stop us even these policemen have to understand that could be last Monday is finished he has to go he must go well over 100 people were arrested throughout the country at least one protester was killed in concert he was identified by the campaign group Human Rights Watch as Rossi but candy his cousin Charlene spoke to the b.b.c. . Very discreet did I feel voiceless. And small he was the father and he had a family Yeah there were if you had people love premium out there and his life has just been reduced like this the only crime he had committed was that he was very passionate about the frequent. Well this is probably news Alia witnessed many of the process in congested from early in the morning police pulled a lot of checkpoint the city from the morning we could also see a lot of policemen and soldiers there wasn't many people in the churches compared to the 2 previous. Protest but the few people were in the churches tried to protest after the mass but the police came and saved them using tear gas and sometimes footing we could see some soldiers using bullets but at the places we saw they was shooting in the air but according to the information to go out there is one person who had been fought all of the protest opposition protests here and there see are banned so this is not the 1st to be banned every time the position of Catholic church comes for protests and we used to see soldiers police men a lot of policemen in the streets but I think people didn't come because they were afraid that violence can start in the churches who really was only a I guess now has some of the stories for monies desk one of the main opposition candidates to me makes a close next president has rejected allegations of corruption accusing the government of a smear campaign in a letter to the attorney general's office Ricardo and neither of the Mexico to the Front coalition denied claims that he had benefited from elicits property Dale's most opinion polls for Mr Nigh in 2nd place ahead of the governing party candidate Jose No 10 the Jose Antonio Monday the front runner for July's election is the veteran left winger and Rassmann will Lopez Obrador the president of the European Commission Junko due to visit the Serbian capital Belgrade later the latest stop on his tool of sync spoken countries that want to join the. Year he was in Macedonia on Sunday and praised the country for making good progress towards formal access and talks insisted the more countries should be in the e.u. Rescue teams in the English city of Leicester have been searching through the wreckage of a convenience store and flat that were destroyed by a powerful explosion overnight 6 people were injured in the blast 2 were listed and critically ill police declared a major incident but it's still not clear what happened Harris Pattni heard the explosion was his big bang there was a big cloud of smoke all the building was lawless demolished all the floorboards everything was right down to the floor level the glass from the shop down stairs which was a general store and then the next thing we know I noticed some flames on the upper floor of the back walk of the building and publishes in the USA a much awaited memoir by the former 1st lady Michelle Obama will be released in the event and appear similar Taney slee in $24.00 languages worldwide the book called Becoming describe this is a bomb as upbringing in Chicago and her romance with Barack Obama the couple are reported to have negotiated a deal for their memoirs with $60000000.00 Thank you a Polish expedition attempting to become the 1st to conquer the world's 2nd highest peak k 2 in winter has confirmed that one of its climbers appears to have launched an unauthorized solo attempt to reach the summit Dennis rip go struck out alone reportedly refusing to discuss his plans with base camp on the radio me hell is the expedition spokesperson so. We're all to. Do establish. Roles on that route. And without any consultation they're nice. And all the summit. So this changed a bit of tactics and because of the fact that you went sort of without any connectivity and without any rate you know with himself we have to prepare that teams which are now currently at the attitude of 6200 meters you know hand to hand 6700 meters and also come to they had to be prepared for such holding then he still is now he summoned out and currently he's probably at the tutor 7200 metres probably and we do not know his plan but maybe he will try to do it in one day so we will try to go from 7200 meters to the summit it is dangerous especially on k 2 which is very very dangerous mountain and however we as human we know within that there is a very known and very experienced climber if you will no word whether it will allow him to go on for the summit and Hume will charge and assess the situation and or wait so long as you will not create any dangerous environment both for him and also folotyn members. Lexan skate Finally let's return to South Korea and the closing of the Winter Olympics there are stories from every Olympic Games that are remembered and talked about for years but like the Jamaican bobsled team or even the ski jumper Eddie the Eagle Chang games will be no different but aside from noise record breaking medal count what else haddest talking these past few weeks really come from takes us back relationships that this is not your business. That with Canadian ice dancing gold medalists got more air answering the question wondered around the world it is on ice chemistry with partner Tessa Virtue more than just a good working relationship I can say that the. The last 2 years been in a very committed relationship with our sport and. Were the type of dive head 1st in the whole process and I just honestly don't know where he would find time for that the idea that 2 might be an item in real life has been talked about online almost as much as their record breaking scores his answer certainly hasn't stopped fans from hoping no and which sport was the sleeper success of the Olympics believe it or not curling beginning with some endorsements from the a team is Mr t. On Twitter including the hashtag curling is cool fool and carrying on with South Korea's new darlings the garlic girls they're a team of understated underdogs winning against some of the world's top rinks but it's a bit of a new phenomenon they're even skip Kim and grandmother admits she hasn't quite figured the sport out yet. Whatever coming as she played it at the end of it she became a professional athlete and I'm so proud of. Tributes to them have been popping up online with people using their room was or automated vacuum cleaners as rocks and sweeping them across their homes and it was an Olympics of firsts like the 1st African bobsled team ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics the women's team competing for Nigeria finished out of the medals but that didn't stop them from inspiring me we always say visual representation is huge and so for children and youth to be able to see this and see that we're on the big screen I think that gives everybody hope and I think it makes everybody interested in the sport and so we hope that we have a bright future here in winter sports and not just bobsled but all over and after all isn't that what the Olympics are all about Ronnie Carlson reporting you have been listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service with McDonnell the main news South Korea has said it hopes the u.s. And North Korea will soon begin direct talks on the nuclear weapons dispute 12 News is next. This is the b.b.c. World Service where history speaks you have to go in and try if you did agree with me that in the back we go in there and RINGBACK the kind you see in the 1970 s. Women involved in the British suffrage movement were recorded for posterity it's a former and current question might give them a will have fingers Well we've gone along now she can't even we're stupid I'm Jane Garvey and listening to the testimonies of these women I'm struck by the sacrifices they made when I'm going to for sure if the NAACP had gotten you very very hard for shit or monarchy it's a 100 years since the Suffragettes were fighting for the vote in the u.k. But their spirit still resonates with women today as respect has once said and they can not rise up the status of the church the lost world of the suffragettes at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash documentaries I'm Geoff Marsh and coming up is crowd science and string 12 year old kitties question Can animals have the same species communicate if they're from different countries in pursuit of an answer we delve into a kook often have animal vocalisations listening to the calls of. Whales. And even. From around the world do these animals have accents and if so why find out with crowd signs after the nice. B.b.c. News with Gareth Barlow the South Korean unification minister germ young young has expressed the hope that Washington in Pyongyang would begin direct talks as soon as possible but he said it be made clear to the North Koreans that any further improvement in its relations with the United States would depend on denuclearization health workers in the besieged Syrian rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta say at least 18 people have been treated for symptoms consistent with exposure to chlorine gas a child is said to have suffocated and his driver said the smell of chlorine after the large explosion the Syrian government has always denied using chemical weapons just weeks before the general election Hungary's governing Fidesz Party has suffered a shock defeat in a Merrill contest in the southern town of hard Meserve after Haim one of its strongholds the Prime Minister Viktor Oban will seek a 3rd term in national polls for April Nigeria's information minister Lima Hamad says police and security officials have been sent to schools in your bay state in the north east of the country to deter attacks from insurgents after meeting parents Mr Mohammed insisted no stone would be left unturned in the search for 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants one of the main opposition candidates to be Mexico's next president has rejected allegations of corruption accusing the government of a smear campaign in a letter to the attorney general's office Ricardo and I are denied claims that he had benefited from illicit property deals in his home state of Quetta terror relatives of the 44 crew of an Argentine submarine that was lost in mid November have begun raising funds for a private search relatives have opened a bank account at ing for public donations to help locate the San Juan submarine the government suspended a massive search in the South Atlantic 15 days after the vessel at last made contact b.b.c. . The readings. This is crowd science from the b.b.c. World Service the show that takes your questions about life Earth or the universe so the experts with answers wherever they are. I'm Jeff Bush and this amazing kid company of animal calls songs and vocalizations is what we'll be focusing on for this episode to help us answer questions sent to us by 12 year old kitty The producer Rory and I braved the cold northern English weather to go and meet along with our family and their beloved dog Monday. I know. Just as Rory you writing this must mean one thing. I can't say highs for anything so. Your question of the crowd size what is it my question for crowd science says Can I get most of the same species communicate if they're from different countries for example could my dog from England communicate with a dog from China and can we meet your dog so can you get him to move because he was a. Good Boy Does he make much noise you know not really. Wanting to say something for the media. To be right on the lips. What's what you like about once if he's just a friend anyway to buy or anything he just gives you quite good company you know sit down next to you and just relax so if we took months he now and sent him off to China and he got to the dark and he met some other Labradors and barked you question is would anyone know what it was all about you know what do you think I think that based on things that they'd understand movement but I don't think they understand him well do you think there are lots of animals that communicate with their voices I think there are like wolves howling that might be saying something instead of just howling. I have actually known a dog that came from China to America and he had no problems making his body language to be understood by other dogs however dogs in China or in dogs in America might back a little bit differently so Monte the dog when it got to China basically would be fine until he opened his mouth probably yes and even when he opens his mouth they'd understand when he was barking in a mean way verses in a friendly way this is Dr Holly root Gutteridge from Sussex University who is obviously very well placed to answer this question she's a canine vocal communication expert and she's actually met globe trotting dogs but her real. This is Wolf's I wanted to know whether wolves were a good model species to answer questions like kitties Yes that's fantastic because while we think of these great big animals that live in the cold north actually gray wolves are found all over the world so you get them from Russia down to India and also in America and Canada so that all over but they also have these wonderful Howell's that vary depending on where the wolf is from what is it they're saying when they when they give those long vocalisations we don't know what they will mean but we know they use been 3 different reasons one of them is to communicate with pack and then there's the that's their family that might be at a distance they also House who express that they're protecting a territory and trying to have the wolves back off this is our land they do it also because we think it's fun you can make them how the hell and fast you can howl at the world and they'll held back yes what does it sound like and I just hear how you do it so this would be the howl of the European movie which is quite long and flat whole movie. Lovely that was quite sorts of melancholy some of them are so you know malaria in Africa I can do an American with the house about half or if you want they sound a bit more like jazz thing is because they move around a lot more would have oysters so an American with my how Moore. Who RINGBACK READY. So they have these we call them dialects the particular subspecies of wolf would make so you could tell the difference between an Indian Wolf from a Himalayan Wolf from a Russian Wolf even though they might only live tens of miles apart Holly's research shows that differences in the way that was held depending on where they're from a sheep beautifully imitated for us there it seems they have accents so it relation to Kitty's question it's reasonable to think that these calls are different enough that wolves might not. Be able to understand each other they have howls that are very specific to their subspecies or to their area and when I play those 2 wolves who aren't from that area they don't usually respond so while we know they're recognizing how we think it might be like if you're speaking French that I can tell somebody might be angry if there is yelling in French but I can't tell you what they're actually saying what does that tell you that the different populations of wolves have you know unique accents what's really interesting about that is it means that there's not just one single how all of the wolves are making that's just totally in coded in their d.n.a. That they have this cultural divergence that's occurring possibly sending a message that's more specific to their environment so maybe one how works better where they're living in mountains compared to when they're living in meadows and that tells us they may be adapting to their local Habitat Hawley's evidence collected as she bravely trekked after wolf packs around the world shows that wolves at least have different accents and this Kitty suggested might be the case some of their calls don't seem to make perfect sense to other packs but kitties question also asked about animals in general so do other animals have accents too and can they understand each other one of the best people to answer this question is a man called Chris Watson he's probably heard more animal sounds than anyone alive wildlife sound recordist and I specialize in recording animal sounds in the places where they live and I've worked a lot on television programmes for the b.b.c. Natural History Unit which was a lot of birds with David Attenborough in Frozen Planet quite recently so what with your level of experience listenings one of those do you think animals have accents such a good question as to yes or yes animals definitely have action some variations and some times with birds that clearly was called Sudan true or they don't travel very far the difference in a relatively short distance can be quite remarkable if you've got a favorite example then of a bird that you could buy. You know what part of the country is from chaffinches are relatively common birds and they have this beautiful quite powerful song in spring and challenges of a very strong regional variation so I've got recordings of English chaffinches Scottish chaffinches and Welsh chaffinches best interest just play and have a listen to this in English traffic. So you can hear them calling to each other and that's what you because an English accent is absolutely an English chaffinch recording Cambridge. Now. And it's interesting this is a Scottish I think. Is a completely different phrase isn't it yeah it's the same pattern but a different dialect this is recorded in the highlands in the Caledonian pine forest . Of the birdsong and sings in of the fries. Very short that sound listening so the gaps in between a longer because of those listening so this final track now we move to Wales so this is a wealth trafficked. That was the most complex yet. Yeah. Quite complex isn't it that one of the components as it was. In the different parts of it yeah it has that sort of bubbling descending pitch which is common to all of them this sort of envelope of them but you can tell straight away that there are 3 birds from different parts of the u.k. And they all sound very different what do you think a Scottish chaffinch would make of a territorial call from a Welsh staff and I think you'd be fascinated to think they might even go as far as recognizing that it was vaguely territorial I think well that these are all to these are songs so this just means you singing and it's sending 2 different messages singing to attract female into his territory is also the same time a sumo tennis like the Stanley is giving a warning to other males to stray back off you know don't come any closer. It's clear that they have these quite specific accidents if you like where they get their accents from. Birds develop their song by listening it would listen to the other characters around it so it would mimic the sounds of the chaffinches and it would develop a strong crew from a basic template a basic pattern of songs it was then a lot of. Individual accents let chaffinches and other small songbirds judge each other's attractiveness or fighting ability and as they listen to each other they learn a local version of the call but there doesn't seem to be all that much to understand in the bird song note sound like human words and both birds keep their songs throughout their adult lives but in the end this is a base of the open ocean Chris has recorded another animal that's famous for its songs only these songs are a lot more flexible. But Wales have some of the most sophisticated elaborate and most highly evolved songs they saying as they approach the reef Silverberg in here this reverberation coming back which they're listening to as well as tuning. The sounds packed with emotions and yeah yeah. And lots of song learning lots of mixed dialects learned through this piece we just in wrote down around Australia over time scientists have noted that song sung by whales the coast of Perth and now being copied by wells on the other side of Australia so something very cool is obviously happening here that's different to the chaffinches if humpbacks are changing their songs and passing them between populations it means that accents if you like fixed there must be a reason for it so I tracked down the research who's responsible for finding this humpback song Highway to ask what's happening I'm Dr Alan Galland I met university research fellow here at university and I study the cultural transmission of humpback whales what's exciting about them is. That the males songs like birds and all them else in the same thing at same time but they can change different parts to it so a new song type will turn up and all the males will switch this new song type really rapidly what makes up the bits of it so to make up a song arranged in a hierarchical structure so the shortest town to our ear is called a unit and then we have different units which makes a right and then a phrase this repeated multiple times to make a thing and then we have a few different things which are of course composed of phrases and units going to particular order to make a song and all the males in the population will be singing that variation at any point in time you've piqued my interest now can I hear what it sounds like sure I can play you a bit of that one of the songs we have. Was. It sounds like an alien or. An alien motive that's what the middle ground is the equivalent of Barry White Oh yeah would you like to hear another phrase from that song really get into this year. But what was much cuter Yeah that was a lot more. Playful. Yeah I mean there's a few different sound types in there you can hear in the range of sounds that I can make and I can make any we have the planes with 30 to 40 different sound units that are different and then how they arrange them each year is a little mysterious typed arrangement some changing so you can see the amount of variability in there where is the sort of hotbed of creativity so sort of songs seem to be passed from the east coast of Australia to the east coast of Australia and in there pass through the South Pacific populations in an easterly direction and this has happened with multiple some types over multiple years you see these are comparisons with human culture I think they're based analogy we have is special and I like to use the example of that there's a really nice red dress that someone comes into question in everybody 10 just wearing red dresses and then that spreads in the next population and the wonderful thing with the humpbacks is this large scale population wide transmission isn't shown in any other animals so far except the humans. You're listening to crowd science from the b.b.c. World Service in this episode we're seeking an answer to listen to Kitty's question can I know most of the same species communicate if they're from different countries great question we've discovered that wolves howl and birds sing in different but specific ways that match the actions of the local populations humpback whales take crowd learning to a whole new level copying viral songs that spread through their cultures in the South Pacific but well it's cause of far less tuneful there's another well species whose accents a much more fixed between groups and definitely don't spread despair well in the largest Tooth Well it's a predator it's one of the dominant predators in the deep ocean and they take squid out of that habitat to a level that reaches the same order of magnitude. As all our human fisheries take out of the ocean every year this is Dr Luke Rendell from the University of St Andrews in Scotland he studies sperm whales and you might recognize this species as the white whale in Moby Dick So what sort of sounds do these highly social whales make so there was a limited to essentially want type of vocalization click because that's what their entire head evolved to do but they make clicks in different patterns for different purposes so when sperm whales are searching for food they make regular clicks like one a 2nd that they use for echolocation So a group of aecl are getting sperm whale sounds like this. That's a group of about 10 sperm whales each making their own particular rhythm of the location clicks that when they're returning to the surface from their dive and when they are socializing together at the surface they make clicks in a very different pattern these are repeated patterns of clicks we call these patterns coded. So that's the sound of a group of sperm whales getting together after they've heard a good forage and one of the interesting things I found in my research is the sperm whales in different places make code is that have different patterns so in the Mediterranean where there are sperm whales they nearly all make this pattern. So that 1231 whereas in the Caribbean On the other side of logic ocean we hear sperm whales making this point we can go further afield to the Pacific Ocean around the Galapagos Islands and we hear a different happened again. In areas where we spend a lot of time like they've left of their lives we've actually been able to identify that there are some groups that make different code patterns even though they live in the same habitat right so we have those regular code is that we heard before then you might also hear this pattern. Or this pattern. And these aren't just different patterns that they happen to make it different times that we've recorded a group making these regular coders for example and we called them again 5 years or even 10 years later they're still be making the same type of code is that something they seem to have for their life right and they just didn't mix with each other we've got no record of the animals that we know of from different vocal dialect groups ever associated together so far as we understand it these are actually representative of some kind of social structure or social division they might want to reinforce a social bond or they might want to stay in touch with members of that group so a sperm I was born into one of these groups and here is that group making that particular code a pattern and hearing that code a pattern if it means anything it means that the whale is at home in the same way that we might get a positive emotional reaction from hearing a song that we were really familiar with in our childhood or from producing some music together in synchrony with a bunch of other people drumming together or clapping together that can produce a real sense of belonging and community and I suspect there's some degree of similarity between our emotional reactions to that kind of process and what's going on with the whales so like like your local football teams chant. Right you know if you've been away for a long time and you come back and you hear that chant and what it means to you is not necessarily the meaning of the words but it means to the you home is that not just the loveliest thing you've ever heard sperm whales basically just say Hi we're here you're safe over and over in their own unique groups accent the message is obviously so reassuring and presumably so important to be able to pick out a crowd that sperm whales just ignore other accidents kitties question asked whether animals that grew up apart can understand each other in sperm whales at least it appears that they just don't want to but to get to the core of Kitty's question about understanding We'll leave the ocean now before our fingers gets all wrinkly so I'm heading over to Ed in Brazil to meet a species that really does seem to care about different accents some of working out now with Amanda the seniors you keep and Katie spoke and I mean credibly excited to say that we're about to treat chimpanzees Yes Ok We're going to make some noises I think they will be if you. Stay just for you want and then many times and in fact you're here and let me just say Steve stated Ok All right well I'm very excited. So I stood on a platform there looking down some very excited looking chimpanzees standing out started to make some noise will feel free to do so if their encounter is that every individual has a good chance of getting something that was at meal time I was. Going to start with that start with a cooked potato try not to hit him. So k.c. They were making quite a lot of noise. You know it's a very big states and. I have this from a yeah it's if I say that was a little bit of aggression there either. I do the feet. So that's what he did doing that. So that's a really nice girl. She's now talking to have to tell you. So they've settled down but what with those times that we heard Casey. Do you think there. So those are the dance we normally associate with them really liking the food with a really high preference food they all sound like they're making roughly the same sort of noise in response to these hot potatoes Yes all the chimps here really love a potato so they've all got a really high preference for and yes then the sounds that they're making for those are all to my ear at least sound very similar but there was a time wasn't no where this big group was actually brought together from 2 separate groups Yes that's right back in 201011 came to join the resident and in Britain it's here and we found before they were integrated that they actually had very different preferences and very different sounds for the same food and that was apples so when the Dutch guys got apples they were super excited so they would give these calls when they got all of that is a tremendous Trump. Just to get a place with her until I finish this interview so. When they got apples they'd make this really high pitched. And they really really loved them and then in contrast the resident Edinburg were not really that bothered by apples and they would give these really low pitched. Calls when they had apples I mean so we thought well what's going to happen they're kind of communicating differently about the same thing here so as they get to know each other and they integrate are they going to come up with a different sound all together so I kind of meet in the middle or is one group going to shift or the other groups call and we found that after a year nothing had changed they were resolutely giving that it's a reduction that if they were from Edinburgh but then we looked at how they were actually interacting and what we found was they would just prefer him to spend time really making friends still only with individuals from their kind of original group so there probably wasn't the motivation to try and communicate more effectively with individuals from the other group so then we came back 3 years later and then we found that the Dutch teams have actually changed the cool. They were giving for apples so rather than giving the clues they had actually shifted so they were now giving their calls to apples What was that because they're just like less excited by apples now because the 1st their original course sounds like Yeah absolutely and that's how we thought the school system worked I read to me that we thought it was just the more excited you are the higher your preference the higher pitched your calls for this is partly why it's so exciting because it's the 1st evidence we've got that they were actually able to change their cool independent of their preference so 3 years later when they were giving the call if you gave them a choice of apple and a load of other food they were still really excited to choose apples that they still loved Apple but they were able to give a call that we normally wouldn't associate with them really loving of food they've got more control over their vocalisations and how they sound than we thought they did before so that's really cool for chimpanzees in the wild how important is it to much action or to sound the same and what are the implications of having the wrong accident in the wild it's even more important so chimps are really territorial and they will be extremely aggressive towards individuals who are not part of that group within a group all individuals of that group there pant who sound more similar to each other than they do to their neighbors and we think that that's really important so in the forest to protect pansy Here's a call they can immediately tell is that one of us or not it's not you need to take action now because that individual could either be coming to kill you or you might have an opportunity to go and so this is the long distance from the kind of distance communication. The chimpanzees a link up with little to lose popped up time and. But I don't suppose it was just basically just look a bit perplexed Yes Yeah I think that I mean chimps know full well that that's just a human put making silly noises I think. On this program Kitty sent crowd science off to discover whether animals can understand each other if they're from different parts of the world this sets a standard path into the wonderful world of animal accents and the 1st thing that struck us was that yes lots of different species have different accents depending on where they're from animals from different parts of the world would understand the general theme of what they were saying Go away danger I want to mate with you but they probably just sound a bit weird and exotic what was so interesting though is that the different vocal animals have a huge variety of reasons for why they have different accents it might just be the simple geographic separation from group to group all the physics of how sound travels through their different environments the sperm whales it might be the need to hone in on your friends in a noisy dangerous expanse of the chimpanzees It seems to be all about. Before we head to the credits let me just say there was so much to put into this program that we've made a special longer podcast to fit it all then there's a whole new section on fats and on there we head back to Kitty to see what she made of our discovery stuff and she's going to wrap things up for us to really. Sit through this we just can't stand on the details you write service the question this week was from May take the program was presented by Jack Nash and produced by Rory kind of like if you have a question about life or the universe please send it to crack science babysitter see I doubt you Carrie thanks for listening by. This is the b.b.c. World Service the real story is the new name for news extra. On the B.B.C.'s Carrie Gracie and every week I'll be joined by a panel of international experts to disgust and did one issue that's making the headlines we make sense of the story behind the news story and why it matters and the real story at b.b.c. World Service dot com. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service a Latin America Online Editor has been a solution to and Jesus speak now to our Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg and Stephen correspondent Bethany Bell has been following the u.n. Top of South America correspondent Kate what is both of us from b.b.c. World Service dot com This is the b.b.c. World Service the world's radio station.