# Animal smarts, and your opinion about these dolphins. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241 "2010-04-24T21:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/1 "2010-04-24T21:03:06Z")
I was prompted by a GQ thread to post a link to this article about animal intelligence. It is genuinely fascinating and enlightening, and portrays all kinds of animals as far more intelligent than we ever believed possible. If you explore all the content related to the article, including video extras and photos, you will discover some cool stories, including one about clever octupuses (pi? I never know) sneaking out of their tanks at night to go eat fish in other tanks, then sneaking back home to their own. But one part of the article talked about our old smartypants pals, dolphins. It’s a long article, here’s the part that I wanted to ask others about - a little internal trimming done, all of it is found at the end of the article. I’ve bolded the parts that are important to my question: > [@](#): > > In the late 1960s a cognitive psychologist named Louis Herman began investigating the cognitive abilities of bottlenose dolphins. Like humans, dolphins are highly social and cosmopolitan, living in subpolar to tropical environments worldwide; they’re highly vocal; and they have special sensory skills, such as echolocation. By the 1980s Herman’s cognitive studies were focused on a group of four young dolphins—Akeakamai, Phoenix, Elele, and Hiapo—at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Hawaii. > > **To communicate with the dolphins, Herman and his team invented a hand- and arm-signal language, complete with a simple grammar**. For instance, a pumping motion of the closed fists meant “hoop,” and both arms extended overhead (as in jumping jacks) meant “ball.” A “come here” gesture with a single arm told them to “fetch.” Responding to the request “hoop, ball, fetch,” Akeakamai would push the ball to the hoop. But if the word order was changed to “ball, hoop, fetch,” she would carry the hoop to the ball. Over time she could interpret more grammatically complex requests, such as “right, basket, left, Frisbee, in,” asking that she put the Frisbee on her left in the basket on her right. **Reversing “left” and “right” in the instruction would reverse Akeakamai’s actions. Akeakamai could complete such requests the first time they were made, showing a deep understanding of the grammar of the language.** > > “They’re a very vocal species,” Herman adds. "Our studies showed that they could imitate arbitrary sounds that we broadcast into their tank, an ability that may be tied to their own need to communicate. **I’m not saying they have a dolphin language. But they are capable of understanding the novel instructions that we convey to them in a tutored language; their brains have that ability.** > > “There are many things they could do that people have always doubted about animals. For example, they correctly interpreted, on the very first occasion, gestured instructions given by a person displayed on a TV screen behind an underwater window. They recognized that television images were representations of the real world that could be acted on in the same way as in the real world.” > > They readily imitated motor behaviors of their instructors too. If a trainer bent backward and lifted a leg, dolphin would turn on its back and lift its tail in the air. Although imitation was once regarded as a simpleminded skill, in recent years cognitive scientists have revealed that it’s extremely difficult, requiring the imitator to form a mental image of the other person’s body and pose, then adjust his own body parts into the same position—actions that imply an awareness of one’s self. > > “Here’s Elele,” Herman says, showing a film of her following a trainer’s directions. “Surfboard, dorsal fin, touch.” Instantly Elele swam to the board and, leaning to one side, gently laid her dorsal fin on it, an untrained behavior. The trainer stretched her arms straight up, signaling “Hooray!” and Elele leaped into the air, squeaking and clicking with delight. > > “Elele just loved to be right,” Herman said. “ **And she loved inventing things. We made up a sign for ‘create,’ which asked a dolphin to create its own behavior.** ” > > **Dolphins often synchronize their movements in the wild, such as leaping and diving side by side, but scientists don’t know what signal they use to stay so tightly coordinated**. Herman thought he might be able to tease out the technique with his pupils.\*\* In the film, Akeakamai and Phoenix are asked to create a trick and do it together. The two dolphins swim away from the side of the pool, circle together underwater for about ten seconds, then leap out of the water, spinning clockwise on their long axis and squirting water from their mouths, every maneuver done at the same instant. “None of this was trained,” Herman says, “and it looks to us absolutely mysterious. We don’t know how they do it—or did it.\*\*” Here’s my point-question: From the information in this article, isn’t it thoroughly obvious that dolphins **absolutely do have language** , and isn’t it almost as obvious that the researcher is denying it unreasonably, probably because he feels he would be laughed at, or because in spite of appreciating dolphin intelligence finds it overwhelming to think that they could actually be sophisticated enough to have true language? And, if you disagree with my conclusions, can you offer an explanation for how the dolphins could create a trick and perform it simultaneously, if not by discussing with each other first in Dolphinspeak? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/2 "2010-04-24T21:11:58Z")
Given nothing but the information in this article, it seems obvious that they have to have some form of communication. ---
**Author:** ![LegsAkimbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@LegsAkimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegsAkimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/3 "2010-04-25T02:00:30Z")
I heard a comment on NPR that indicated that dolphins actually name each other. This is a tad lateral to your question, I just wanted to mention it. I think they have language, I think we have basically no idea what is really going on with dolphins. This planet is mostly water, and they don’t seem to be trying to wipe out their own kind on the other side of it… they just may be far, far ahead of us… ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/4 "2010-04-25T02:56:34Z")
> [@LegsAkimbo](#): > > This planet is mostly water, and they don’t seem to be trying to wipe out their own kind on the other side of it… they just may be far, far ahead of us… Neither are tuna. They must be _far_ more advanced than us! ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/5 "2010-04-25T02:57:53Z")
Interesting read, what is the link to the original article? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/6 "2010-04-25T03:14:42Z")
Well they are the second most intelligent life form on the planet, after the white mice. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/7 "2010-04-25T03:23:09Z")
I once swam with wild, totally untrained dolphins in the Red Sea off of Egypt. (Yes, it was pretty much the highlight of my life.) They were very obviously _extremely_ intelligent. They played with us, coming right up to us and then darting away before we could touch them, over and over again. Dolphins are amazing. I’d be surprised if they _didn’t_ have some means of communication. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/8 "2010-04-25T03:50:56Z")
Oops. Sorry, thought I’d put it in. [Animal Minds](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/animal-minds/virginia-morell-text) National Geographic, March 2008 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/9 "2010-04-25T03:59:36Z")
How would you go about teaching a dolphin, “create?” That seems pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/10 "2010-04-25T04:28:45Z")
I never doubted that dolphins are smart and could communicate well. What freaked me out was seeing a video of a researcher going down in a shark cage with a group of Humbolt squid. For some reason. I always thought that squid were like more solid jellyfish. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are extremely intelligent and ruthless. They also have the ability to communicate by flashing light and no one understands that. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yG3IRWZSDos/hqdefault.jpg "Giant Humboldt Squid Documentary") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG3IRWZSDos) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/11 "2010-04-25T16:55:31Z")
It annoys me that nobody bothers to teach these animals (or, rather, try to bridge the communications gap with) any abstract terms. Show them a video (since they apparently can grasp what goes on in a video) of a bunch of dolphins saving a human from sharks, or protecting an injured whale, etc., then flash a new symbol representing “altruism.” Right now, all they’re doing is teaching pre-K language concepts, but if they dared to push the envelope a bit… ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/12 "2010-04-25T18:10:21Z")
It’s been my impression that most scientific research is limited to concrete experiment and observation without much abstract interpretation. For sure that’s the way the textbooks usually read. But IANAS (yet) and I’d love to be proven wrong. That said, what has been discovered so far is really fascinating! I had heard that cetaceans have shown intelligence but didn’t know to what degree. Really challenges the belief that humans are inherently set apart from other animals. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-smarts-and-your-opinion-about-these-dolphins/537241/13 "2010-04-25T18:41:02Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I once swam with wild, totally untrained dolphins…They were very obviously _extremely_ intelligent. They played with us, coming right up to us and then darting away before we could touch them, over and over again. > > Dolphins are amazing. I’d be surprised if they _didn’t_ have some means of communication. I’ve done that too, and at first I was truly, jaw-droppingly astounded.I was convinced that the dolphins approached me because they were trying to , well,.._tell me something_… But then my amazement level dropped, when I realized that these animals were doing something I’ve seen other animals do: they were acting just like pet dogs. We feel amazed–but only because dolphins live in water, which is a foreign envrionment for us humans, and we are not used to seeing intelligent fish. If dolphins were land animals, we would keep them as house pets, and not be so amazed. Dolphins are probably no more intelligent than monkeys, but harder to train because they live in water. We don’t feel amazement when seeing a trained monkey use a tool, or a trained dog leading a blind person. But watching a dolphin “play fetch” fires our imaginations. It’s neat, it’s fascinating…but it’s not entirely logical. Maybe we’re just playing our part in a “stupid human trick” for dolphin late-night TV.