Studying the Big-Brained Dolphin

[groovedaddy]

Q. DID CHILDHOOD VIEWING OF THE “FLIPPER” TELEVISION SERIES MAKE YOU WANT TO BECOME A DOLPHIN RESEARCHER?

A. No, it was The New York Times! In the 1970s, I was working as a set designer for an avant-garde theater company in Philadelphia. One Sunday, I read The Times and saw this photograph of a baby whale being killed. Something in me just snapped. “It’s a shame we’re slaughtering these animals when we know so little about them,” I said. I then got a Ph.D. I’ve been devoting myself to studying the abilities and the behaviors of whales and dolphins since.

Q. DOLPHINS SPEND MUCH OF THEIR LIVES UNDERWATER. HOW CAN YOU OBSERVE THEIR BEHAVIOR?

A. Well, I observe captive dolphins in aquariums. At the moment, my laboratory is an underwater glass booth in the dolphin pool at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I climb into it with a video camera. The animals are used to me. My goal is to understand their behaviors well enough so that I can find ways to help them tell us about their cognitive capacities.

Dolphins, they have these really large, complex brains. The question is: what are they doing with them? These animals look like fish, but the behavior patterns are more like primates and elephants. They are vocal learners, like parrots and humans. What do the sounds they make mean?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/21conversation.html?th&emc=th

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[supernova]

2. My feeling is

Dolphins are pretty much aquatic versions of us. I.e., if we had stayed in the ocean and developed, we'd be them.

No, I don't have any special research that says this, but every new piece of research we do says they are a lot smarter than we think they are. Interesting that they put up with our strange, dumb attempts to understand them. They must have incredible patience with us. Or maybe we amuse them.

:-)