Dolphins are often considered the second or third most intelligent animals after man. Research has yielded tons of information about its life, its social structure, and its development. Their sense of echolocation has fascinated scientists, who do not hesitate to study it to apply the same mechanism to technologies that facilitate human life and help to fulfill special purposes. But is this all that we can learn from dolphins?

Of course not. These amazing, intelligent mammals have some lessons to teach humans, lessons whose application represents a benefit in the personal and social life of man, now more concerned with the achievement of his work goals and individual recognition.

Close social bonds are better than a lonely life.
Dolphins maintain very close ties with their pod companions. They are highly sociable and do not hesitate to help each other. They are even able to remember many years after they last saw each other and aid to survive those who are sick. When humans imitate this behavior, it improves their mood, reduces stress and increases their chances of survival.

Dolphins are considered the second or third most intelligent animals after man.

Empathy is good.

Dolphins understand when a dolphin or a human being are vulnerable to some danger, and that is why they are believed to have come to the rescue. They do not just leave those who need help. Would not be wonderful if people always did the same? Empathy in humans, besides, allows the understanding of different ideas, tolerance, and respect.

Teamwork is power.

Most of these cetaceans cooperate to find food, care for the young and protect each other. Humans try most of the time exclusively their well-being, but working together with others, is a good way to increase everyone’s success and improve living conditions.

Creativity is important.

Dolphins have found ways to solve some difficulties, as many tests show: they use sponges to protect themselves from rough surfaces, mimic human movements and even communicate through a varied repertoire of sounds. If they can, anyone else can and not just the researchers.

Live without damaging the environment.

This aspect is perhaps the most important since our environment is degrading as people become unaware of their implications on Earth and their responsibilities in it. Dolphins live in an aquatic environment from which they use resources for their means, but do not cause damage. They use what they need.

LEARNING APPLIED TO TECHNOLOGY

The scientific and technological areas are the ones that have benefited most from all the information acquired from dolphins. Current trends focus on the application of echolocation both in technology and in people’s daily life for impaired people and in developing methods for protecting other species. It seems that too much is known, but the truth is that much remains to be discovered and to be learned yet, that is why scientists continue studying them.

EVEN MORE LEARNING FROM DOLPHINS

While dolphin research is still in its infancy, the wealth of information that we may one day glean from these magnificent creatures is unimaginable. One lesson that we can learn from them, however, could be a key to the survival of our civilization. In today’s hectic world, the dolphin community may just offer a few lessons that we should take the time to learn.

There’s a saying in our culture that suggests “it takes a village to raise a child.” In earlier times, our society often reflected this concept. Today, however, morals and values are almost nonexistent, and technology continues to contribute to the breakdown of our families, communities and our society as a whole. Dolphins, however, are cooperative and playful. Their communities or pods persist under dangerous conditions only because of the bonds and support the members offer to one another. In the world of the dolphin, members care for and protect each other. Dolphins are creatures of socialization just as we are.

As human beings, maybe it’s time that we take a look back at how we have evolved and consider instead returning to the way of the dolphin, rather than spreading farther and farther from each other, the answer to our problems is perhaps instead, to come closer. The pod concept that protects dolphins could very well be the ideal that could protect our families and our communities.

There is, in fact, a society that is seriously contemplating the concept of pod living. The Sirius Institute, in Hawaii, has developed a model human society based on pod living. According to their website, Sirius believes that the pod prototype can help us “restore our currently fragmented society,” living in a way that provides an environment where “humans can belong to something bigger than themselves and stand out for who they are and the contributions they make,” instead of what they possess.

The Sirius Pod model allows people to interact within their homes, neighborhoods and in some cases, worlds. The children living in this environment are raised together, very similar to the way dolphins raise their young. Sirius believes that their pod models are “islands of stability” where people can come together to grow and prosper.

While the Sirius model may seem a little vague and sounds very much like the lifestyle we already think we’re living, it would be a positive thing for each and every one of us to stop and consider what the important things are and why we’ve let them fall by the wayside.

If we can learn anything from dolphins, it could just very well be that we need to refocus our attention on how we’re living our lives and why.

Dolphins continue surviving against increasing odds. The intelligence level that these animals display and their ability to interact not only with their peer but to also in harmony with others is a lesson we should all learn.

The intelligence of dolphins is one of their most outstanding features. Among the thousands of members that the animal kingdom has, dolphins take one of the top places regarding intelligence.

The brain is the organ involved in the ability of understanding, reasoning, learning, and other cognitive processes. The dolphin’s brain is astonishingly complex, almost comparable to that of humans. And it is large related to their body. Through magnetic resonance imaging, their brains have been found to be 4-5 times bigger than those of other animals of similar sizes.

The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is the second place in a list of species with a higher encephalization ratio (EQ), which compares the mass of the encephalon against its body size.

In addition to a developed neocortex, the cerebellum has more convolutions (turns of the brain surface) than that of other mammals. The connections between the neurological areas and the motor areas of the organ exhibit a great sensitivity to pain and a pronounced tendency to stress.

Some scientists claim that the social intelligence of these cetaceans competes with that of the great apes.

Most of their behaviors show the development of their brain and their ability to understand situations. They process information from their environment in a similar way to people, and some say that they can solve problems like humans. For example:

– Their forms of communication are complex, evolving and diverse.

– They are creative and playful animals. Their behavior is not mechanical or rigid; they seem to enjoy playing and look for the companionship of other individuals.

– Their empathy suggests that they experience emotions such as sadness or joy.

– They have an excellent learning ability; this is why they are highly requested animals for water parks, although the activities of these places are highly controversial.

– They can transmit learning to other generations of dolphins.
There have been cases where they use tools. For example, sponges to protect your snout from rough surfaces.

– The members of a pod collaborate with each other and sometimes with other species of animals.

Some scientists argue that the social intelligence of these cetaceans competes with that of the great apes because they can demonstrate empathy towards the companions and help them when they are injured or immobilized.

Signs of higher intelligence are related to self-awareness and dolphins are. Proof of this is that when they look in a mirror, they can recognize themselves and know that they are the ones in the mirror; This is a sign of the development of abstract thinking. Likewise, their learning ability is comparable to that of a 3-year-old child, according to cognitive psychologist Diana Reiss of the New York City University.

+ According to science, their ability to learn is comparable to that of a 3-year-old toddler.

INTELLIGENCE TESTS

Many other experiments on dolphins have proved their superior thinking ability compared with other animals and similar to that of humans:

– They respond positively to television, that is, show interest and curious attention to the moving images displayed on the device.

– They have been seen playing with inanimate objects that they find in their surroundings.

– They play with bubbles of water as they swim, and then take the time to observe their creations.

– They can solve complex problems and can imitate the actions of human beings. A dolphin named Tanner was blindfolded and told to imitate the actions of a trainer who was in the water. As the dolphin could not watch, emitted sounds and interpreted the sound waves to make replicas of the movements of the instructor.

The differences between human intelligence and that of dolphins are that the former need to manipulate their environment, but dolphins do not, and that is why they concentrate their intellect in other things.

There are still many questions regarding dolphin intelligence. There are still many things to discover, but what is known so far is enough to say that these animals are very, very intelligent.

ARE DOLPHINS SMART? THE ONGOING DEBATE ABOUT DOLPHIN INTELLIGENCE

Most scientists refuse to take a firm stand on the intelligence level of dolphins, and although many will admit that dolphins seem to be intelligent creatures, it is not a proven fact. The biggest problem researchers are running into seems to be the actual definition of intelligence and the way to test it in animals.

If you were to step out into the street and ask the first ten people you see whether or not they believed dolphins were creatures of intelligence, 8 of 10 would probably say yes. If you ask two scientists the same question, you just may be opening up a debate that could last for hours.

Darwin’s theory bases intelligence on the ability of a species to recognize what it needs to survive, while others believe that the size and architecture of the brain, the capacity to communicate or the ability to solve problems are the indicators.

Another reason why the research is limited is that it is complicated and expensive to do it in the wild. Dolphins in captivity may respond differently based on their surroundings and are therefore may not be representative of the wild dolphin.

While most of us outside the scientific realm recognize that dolphins are intelligent, we do not know the intricacies of the dolphin’s brain. It has two hemispheres just like the human brain. However, theirs split into four lobes instead of three. The fourth hosts all of the senses, whereas in humans, they are in different parts. Some believe that having all of the senses in one lobe allow dolphins to make quick and often complicated judgments that are well beyond the scope of human ability.

When studying the neocortex, which is the outside surface of the brain responsible for perceptions, memories, and thoughts, dolphins have more convolutions than the most intelligent humans. Even more, dolphins may be able to use the hemispheres of their brain separately as they have different blood supplies.

Some researchers think that the size and complexity of the brain at birth is a better measure of intelligence. If that statement holds up, however, once more the dolphin comes out on top. The bottlenose dolphin has a brain mass at birth that is 42.5% of the brain mass of an adult. In contrast, human babies at birth have 28% of their adult counterparts. At 18 months, the brain mass of a bottlenose dolphin is 80% of the adults, while humans don’t achieve this level until the age of three or four.

While the research certainly makes it look like the dolphin may be the closest to our level of intelligence, it may be quite some time before this can be confirmed.

References

Richard C Connor. Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals. 2007.

Pilleri G, Gihr M, Purves P.E, Zbinden K, Kraus C 1976 On the behaviour, bioacoustics and functional morphology of the Indus river dolphin (Platanista indi Blyth, 1859).

Stephen Leatherwood, Randall R. Reeves. The Bottlenose Dolphin. Elsevier, 2012.

news.health.ufl.edu/2012/18591/multimedia/animal-airwaves/dolphins-dig-tools/

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