Speaking With Dolphins

[n2doc]

By Danielle Venton February 15, 2011

So if humanity someday arrives at an extraterrestrial cocktail party, will we be ready to mingle? At the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter, Florida, researchers train for contact by trying to talk with dolphins.

Behavioral biologist Denise Herzing started studying free-ranging spotted dolphins in the Bahamas more than two decades ago. Over the years, she noticed some dolphins seeking human company, seemingly out of curiosity.

“We thought, ‘This is fascinating, let’s see if we can take it further,’” Herzing said. “Many studies communicate with dolphins, especially in captivity, using fish as a reward. But it’s rare to ask dolphins to communicate with us.”


Dolphins have large, sophisticated brains, elaborately developed in the areas linked to higher-order thinking. They have a complex social structure, form alliances, share duties and display personalities. Put a mirror in their tank and they can recognize themselves, indicating a sense of self.

When trained, they have a remarkable capacity to pick up language. At the Dolphin Institute in Hawaii, Louis Herman and his team taught dolphins hundreds of words using gestures and symbols. Dolphins, they found, could understand the difference between statements and questions, concepts like “none” or “absent,” and that changing word order changes the meaning of a sentence. Essentially, they get syntax.

more
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/seti-dolphins/

[niyad]

1. k and r

[ixion]

2. "Essentially, they get syntax."

Syntax, and so much more.

[Peace Patriot]

3. I am astonished. I had no idea anyone had made this level of contact with dolphins.

And I really, really, REALLY don't see how anyone can keep calling dolphins "animals."

Thanks for posting this!

[qazplm]

4. dolphins are animals

so are we.

[Peace Patriot]

8. You know what I mean. We don't go around calling human beings "animals"

(except as an epithet). We mean something lower than ourselves--a "lesser" species. Referring to dolphins as "animals" means that they are not sentient. They do not possess our "higher consciousness." In religious terms, they do not have "souls." And, perhaps most important of all, we can kill them with impunity.

I think it's lo-o-o-ong past time that we recognize them as sentient. They are absolutely unique as a species that seeks out humans in the wild. This sets them apart from all other intelligent animals--elephants, whales, chimps, gorillas, wolves. None of these want to communicate. They only do so in captivity (or as hostile display in the wild). Dolphins have a long history of seeking out humans for friendly contact--even deliberately helping humans. All other species run away. Dolphins' big, complex brains (bigger than ours) and other behaviors point to sentience and combine with their desire to communicate to make an overwhelming case for at least setting them aside and protecting them as quite possibly sentient so that we do not make the on-going mistake of killing sentient beings.

Their failure to develop technology, as we have done (and as we understand technology--outward works), is not a consideration, in my view. Clearly, they didn't need to develop technology to survive. The ocean provides them with everything they need and their fabled swimming ability puts them wherever they need to be. They don't need baskets or jars to carry food. They don't need carts, cars or airplanes. They are insulated from the cold. They don't need fire. They eat live food--fish, shrimp, etc. They are adept at communication and group protection. They don't need spears, arrows, knives, guns. Our needs, as landlubbers, have dictated our evolution--our hands, our dexterity, our engineering abilities. Their needs, as ocean creatures, have dictated their highly sophisticated sonar abilities, and the sleekest possible swimming design of their bodies. They jet through the water like we jet through the sky only they are even more in tune with their element than we are. They don't need roads, bridges, skyscrapers or any kind of home. But this does not mean that their adaptation to their environment has been brainless. They could well have sophisticated histories of oceanography, for instance, that they pass along to their young--and many tales of wild adventure. Their songs are very complex, and very individual, and we don't have a dictionary. Yet they find us--seek us out--and accompany us and try to communicate with us in various ways. Why would they do this except as recognition of sentience in us? They have plenty of reason to avoid us and they do not. All other wild things avoid us, and they do not.

I think we need to presume sentience in this case and stop killing dolphins, and stop calling them mere "animals." We should, of course, avoid cruelty to all animals. But that is different from recognizing potential sentience.

[Meldread]

5. I've often thought about Dolphins when I think about Aliens.

Dolphins are perhaps the most intelligent animals on Earth right after humans. Yet, in many ways - biologically - they're screwed. They're confined to water and have extreme limitations when it comes to manipulating their environment.

Imagine how many worlds could exist out there with intelligent life, life capable of building civilization(s), but at the same time are screwed over by biological limitations. It gives some perspective on just how lucky we ended up, and the hurtles intelligent life faces in the universe to rise beyond its primordial "natural" state. It's likely that the vast majority of planets with advanced life like Earth are going to be completely uncivilized.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. When two dolphin species come together, they attempt to find a common language, preliminary research

Bottlenose and Guyana dolphins, two distantly related species, often come together to socialise in waters off the coast of Costa Rica.

Both species make unique sounds, but when they gather, they change the way they communicate, and begin using an intermediate language.

That raises the possibility the two species are communicating in some way.

I wouldn't be surprised that they can modify their signals to mimic, and even possibly communicate with other species
Biologist Dr Laura May-Collado

Details are published in the journal Ethology.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Thank you. Kicking. n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

So long and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this
We tried to warn you all but oh dear?

You may not share our intellect
Which might explain your disrespect
For all the natural wonders that
grow around you

So long, so long and thanks
for all the fish

The world's about to be destroyed
There's no point getting all annoyed
Lie back and let the planet dissolve

Despite those nets of tuna fleets
We thought that most of you were sweet
Especially tiny tots and your
pregnant women

So long, so long, so long, so long, so long
So long, so long, so long, so long, so long

[pokerfan]

10. aw blah es span yol....

:rofl: