# Latest theory - dolphins are actually pretty stupid! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512 "2006-08-20T23:38:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/1 "2006-08-20T23:38:43Z")
From this morning’s (Monday’s) paper: [link](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20191232-2,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Grits\_and\_Hard\_Toast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Grits\_and\_Hard\_Toast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grits_and_Hard_Toast)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/2 "2006-08-21T00:02:40Z")
I promise I am not one of the people who just don’t want to believe dophins aren’t smart, but I find this part odd: [COLOR=Blue]"You put an animal in a box, even a lab rat or gerbil, and the first thing it wants to do is climb out of it. If you don’t put a lid on top of the bowl a goldfish will eventually jump out. “But a dolphin will never do that. In the marine parks the dividers to keep the dolphins apart are only a foot or two above the water between the different pools.” Why not? Because, Professor Manger says, the thought would simply not cross their minds. [/COLOR] I have never had a lid on my goldfish bowl, and it never jumped out. And if it did try to jump out, I wouldn’t see that as a sign of intelligence, in fact it would be quite stupid to leave its nice bowl. So perhaps dolphins aren’t stupid for not wanting to jump their dividers. Perhaps they are content, see no reason to risk venturing into another pool. I think it is quite possible that dolphins aren’t as smart as earlier claimed, I just don’t see this article making much of a case for the change in attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/3 "2006-08-21T01:53:33Z")
When a goldfish jumps out of its bowl, the result is always death. (Unless they’re lucky enough to do it when a person is around.) I can’t really see that as a sign of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/4 "2006-08-21T02:16:41Z")
Despair, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/5 "2006-08-21T03:13:26Z")
Hard to figure. Dolphins may very well be intelligent. But that intelligence would very very strange to us. Flipper may be the closest we get in my life to ET. It has been suggested that dolphins are hard-wired to not jump over dividers. The potential for jumping out of the water by mistake could explain this behavior. Or, perhaps, dolphins are not too bright. We may have been projecting onto them. It is often useful to turn What Everyone Knows on its head. I would like to see someone look into dolphin intelligence in an effort to disprove it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/6 "2006-08-21T03:28:28Z")
> [@](#): > > He argues the dolphin, widely regarded as one of the smartest mammals, does not display enough sophistication in its behaviour to show any more intelligence than a lab rat or goldfish. Let’s then train goldfish to [locate and tag underwater mines.](http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/mine_hunting.html) Care and feeding of little fishys would be a heck of a lot cheaper than it is for bottlenose a couple of meters long. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/7 "2006-08-21T03:39:01Z")
Dolphins aren’t that smart. In college, I was sleeping with this dolphin’s wife for like four months and he never figured it out. Hah! Sucker! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/8 "2006-08-21T03:58:22Z")
{MST3K Mode}Oh, man, the Dolphin Warship is going to kick this guy’s ass!!! {/MST3K Mode} ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/9 "2006-08-21T04:02:57Z")
I saw a pigeon take off from the roof of a building today and fly away. Apparently it has never occurred to Professor Paul Manger to try jumping off the roof of a building. Conclusion; Professor Manger if less intelligent than a pigeon. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/10 "2006-08-21T05:07:44Z")
A few years ago, some guy decided dogs were smarter than cats, because when he put a towel over his dog’s head, the dog would shake it off, but when he put a towel over his cat, it went to sleep. He concluded that getting out from under the towel was the most desirable outcome, so therefore, cats were stupid. A single observation is an unreliable gauge of intelligence, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/11 "2006-08-21T06:14:06Z")
Dolphins are pretty stupid living in igloos and such. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/12 "2006-08-21T08:17:52Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] A few years ago, some guy decided dogs were smarter than cats, because when he put a towel over his dog’s head, the dog would shake it off, but when he put a towel over his cat, it went to sleep. He concluded that getting out from under the towel was the most desirable outcome, so therefore, cats were stupid. A single observation is an unreliable gauge of intelligence, IMO. [/QUOTE] No, no… he was prejudiced that getting out from under the towel was the most desirable outcome, but the cats knew it wasn’t. I know many humans who would love any excuse to go back to sleep. That doesn’t make humans particularly intelligent, or course… ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/13 "2006-08-21T12:02:39Z")
Dolphins jumped their way out of the Super Bowl. Does that make’m smart again? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/14 "2006-08-21T12:05:20Z")
What’s with this news source? There may well be evidence, or arguments, that dolphins aren’t particularly smart–but the only arguments that appear in this article are laughably stupid. Are they just yanking chains? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/15 "2006-08-21T12:13:04Z")
So then what was Flipper? Epileptic? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/16 "2006-08-21T12:27:38Z")
Debunked: > [@Douglas Adams (HHGTTG)](#): > > Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man – for precisely the same reasons. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/17 "2006-08-21T13:00:05Z")
I am happy to see in the link that the Scientist in questions sounds dumber than the average Fundie arguing about dinosaurs. Jim ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/18 "2006-08-21T13:49:58Z")
[QUOTE=boytyperanma] Dolphins are pretty stupid living in igloos and such. [/QUOTE] Those are porpoises. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/19 "2006-08-21T14:08:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Geneticist Dr Bill Sherwin, from the University of NSW, said groups of dolphins now being studied showed the most complex social behaviour outside the human realm. > > “They do have pretty complicated behaviour. There’s nothing complex in chimpanzees, orang-utans or gorillas,” he said. > > "I’ve worked with a number of different species and dolphins definitely look like they’re thinking about you, and reacting to you and other things in their environment. Seriously, chimps aren’t thinking about, and reacting to you and other things in their environments? This guy is gonna end up working for The Fin in Reno, Nevada. > [@](#): > > “When you look at the structure of the dolphin brain you see it is not built for complex information processing,” Professor Manger said. That’s pretty important. From another news report on the same thing: > [@](#): > > But Manger, whose peer-reviewed research on the subject has been published in Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, says the reality is different. > > Brains, he says, are made of neurons and glia. The latter create the environment for the neurons to work properly and producing heat is one of glia’s functions. > > “Dolphins have a superabundance of glia and very few neurons… The dolphin’s brain is not made for information processing it is designed to counter the thermal challenges of being a mammal in water,” Manger said. Of course, that must be false, since it was published by Al-Jazeera. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512/20 "2006-08-21T18:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] Dolphins aren’t that smart. In college, I was sleeping with this dolphin’s wife for like four months and he never figured it out. Hah! Sucker! [/QUOTE] You see, he never started banging the rocks together. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-theory-dolphins-are-actually-pretty-stupid/369512.md?page=2)