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A comment below Who pioneered the use of Laughing Kookaburra birds to create the impression of a jungle setting? links to a The Sound and the Foley blogpost That Jungle Sound which explores the use of this bird's "laugh" to create an impression of being in a jungle setting.

At the bottom of this post are lists of movies and television shows in which recordings of Kookaburra are employed. One of them caught my eye:

In Flipper (the 1964 TV series), the titular dolphin’s famous cry is actually a modified kookaburra call. (!) (This “dolphin call” can also be heard at the very end of The Bourne Identity (2002).)

I recall sitting in the theatre at the end of The Bourne Identity and immediately thinking "Flipper!" But what I find surprising here is the claim that "This 'dolphin call' is "actually a modified kookaburra call."

Question: Is this true? Is there any information to support this? It's hard to imagine there was technology available to do such a thing in the 1960's, nor a need to.

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  • By technology you mean computers? Before that there were analog means to edit audio / video.
    – Luciano
    Jul 20, 2020 at 9:23
  • @Luciano to make a bird sound like a dolphin? In 1964? How?
    – uhoh
    Jul 20, 2020 at 9:39
  • Audio mixers, sound boards, tape editing? Speed up / slow down, re-record... Lots of things were possible before computers were popular / cheap.
    – Luciano
    Jul 20, 2020 at 10:14
  • A distinction: they didn't use a kookaburra call to sound like a dolphin - they used a kookaburra call to sound like what audiences would think sounds like a dolphin.
    – HorusKol
    Jul 20, 2020 at 10:35
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    Not an official source, but some more info you could explore further (and yes, kookaburras sped up and higher pitched) : soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/…
    – racraman
    Jul 20, 2020 at 11:19

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