Herzing and her team faced two huge problems when it came to talking to dolphins. The first problem is that the current state of animal language research creates an asymmetrical relationship between humans and the animals with whom they wish to communicate. The second problem is that (save for parrots) animal vocal cords cannot replicate human speech, and visa versa  …

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Perhaps the similarities we find between species may turn out to be more critical than the differences. We might find levels of mental and social continuity and convergence across social species on our very own planet, Earth.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/pv82jb

By Denise L. Herzing

Beyond knowing what cetaceans can do with their large complex brains, it’s equally important to ask what they do naturally. Long-term field research has shown that dolphins live in large complex groups with highly differentiated relationships that include long-term bonds, higher-order alliances, and cooperative networks [61–62] that rely on learning and memory. Some of the complexities typical of within-group primate alliances, such as individuals switching sides in different social contexts, are also seen among bottlenose dolphins. Moreover, “alliances of alliances,” observed in bottlenose dolphins, are rare outside of our own species, even among old world monkeys and apes [3]. There is also evidence that individual role taking has emerged in dolphin societies to facilitate cooperative relationships [63] and decision-making processes [64,65].

Field studies have documented impressive cultural learning of dialects, foraging sites, and foraging and feeding strategies in cetaceans. Culture, the transmission of learned behavior, is one of the attributes of cetaceans that most sets them apart from the majority of other nonhuman species [66] and is likely underpinned by advanced social learning abilities. Cultural attributes have been identified in many species of cetaceans but principally in those best studied: the bottlenose dolphin, the killer whale, the sperm whale, and the humpback whale [66]. One of the most distinctive elements of cetacean culture is multiculturalism—groups with different cultures using the same habitat—which is known in bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales, killer whales, and sperm whales. For example, killer whale populations of the eastern North Pacific are structured into several social tiers, which possess distinctive cultural attributes in vocal, social, feeding, and play behavior [67,68].

Social complexity and culture in cetaceans are arguably dependent on a complex and flexible communication system, encompassing vocal, visual, tactual, and possibly chemical signals [69]. There are differences across cetaceans in their sound production mechanisms. Odontocetes (primarily high-frequency producers, echolocating) and mysticetes (primarily low-frequency producers, non-echolocating) exhibit radically divergent nasal, laryngeal, and hyoid anatomy [70–74]. Cetaceans also supplement their repertoire of vocal signals with visual cues (e.g., changes in body posture), tactile behaviors (e.g., flipper touching, teeth raking), and nonvocal auditory behaviors (e.g., breaching, lob tailing). The temporal sequencing of these latter nonvocal communicative events can be highly structured, demonstrating a complex and diverse nonvocal communication system [64,75].

Dolphins produce several different whistle types and sounds. Evidence also shows that the sequential order of whistle production is an important feature of their communication system [76,77]. Extensive fieldwork has shown that cetacean call types exhibit enormous variation [78,79], evolve over time [80], and are used differently across social groups [81]. In some cases, the variation is so pronounced that other species have learned to use it in judging predation risk [82]. In bottlenose dolphins, there is evidence that this variation is the basis for a referential identity-labeling system [83].

Cultural learning of behaviors may proceed through motor imitation or perhaps even through direct teaching (pedagogy), as may be the case for killer whale calves “instructed” in beach capture of pinnipeds by their mothers [66,84]. Vocal imitation also occurs, such as the development of dialects among killer whale family groups [78–80, 85]. The close synchrony seen among wild dolphins is a form of imitative behavior that may serve in part to express their affiliation [86]. Tool use, which is a measure of intelligence that correlates with relative brain size in primates [87] and birds [88], is also documented in dolphins, who use sponges to probe into crevices for prey and appear to transmit the technique culturally [89].

Lori Marino^*, Richard C. Connor, R. Ewan Fordyce, Louis M. Herman, Patrick R. Hof, Louis Lefebvre, David Lusseau, Brenda McCowan, Esther A. Nimchinsky, Adam A. Pack, Luke Rendell, Joy S. Reidenberg, Diana Reiss, Mark D. Uhen, Estel Van der Gucht, Hal Whitehead

Citation: Marino L, Connor RC, Fordyce RE, Herman LM, Hof PR, et al. (2007) Cetaceans Have Complex Brains for Complex Cognition. PLoS Biol 5(5): e139 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050139

Published: May 15, 2007

The adaptation of cetaceans to a fully aquatic lifestyle represents one of the most dramatic transformations in mammalian evolutionary history. Two of the most salient features of modern cetaceans are their fully aquatic lifestyle and their large brains. This review article will offer an overview of comparative neuroanatomical research on aquatic mammals, including analyses of odontocete cetacean, sirenian, pinniped, and fossil archaeocete brains. In particular, the question of whether a relationship exists between being fully aquatic and having a large brain is addressed. It has been hypothesized that the large, well-developed cetacean brain is a direct product of adaptation to a fully aquatic lifestyle. The current consensus is that the paleontological evidence on brain size evolution in cetaceans is not consistent with this hypothesis. Cetacean brain enlargement took place millions of years after adaptation to a fully aquatic existence. Neuroanatomical comparisons with sirenians and pinnipeds provide no evidence for the idea that the odontocete’s large brain, high encephalization level, and extreme neocortical gyrification is an adaptation to a fully aquatic lifestyle. Although echolocation has been suggested as a reason for the high encephalization level in odontocetes, it should be noted that not all aquatic mammals echolocate and echolocating terrestrial mammals (e.g., bats) are not particularly highly encephalized. Echolocation is not a requirement of a fully aquatic lifestyle and, thus, cannot be considered a sole effect of aquaticism on brain enlargement. These results indicate that the high encephalization level of odontocetes is likely related to their socially complex lifestyle patterns that transcend the influence of an aquatic environment. Anat Rec, 290:694-700, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

via Wiley InterScience :: JOURNALS :: The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology.

Stability and group specificity of stereotyped whistles in resident killer whales, Orcinus orca, off British Columbia

John K.B. Ford and Frank Thomsen

For over thirty years, KBMML pioneered scientific studies of the sensory, cognitive, and communicative abilities of its resident dolphins. These studies revealed how dolphins perceive their world through hearing, vision, and echolocation, the depth and breadth of their intellectual potential, and the mechanisms and processes that contribute to their social life and social world.

Between 1970 and 2004, groundbreaking discoveries at KBMML revealed the ability of bottlenosed dolphins to understand semantic and syntactic elements presented within visually-based and acoustically-based artificial languages, their abilities for both vocal and behavioral imitation, their ability to”image” complexly-shaped objects through echolocation, their spontaneous understanding of television displays and scenes, their understanding of human pointing and gaze cues, their excellent short-term memory for arbitrary sounds, visual items, and behaviors, their ability to generalize

concepts of similarity and difference, their awareness of self and others, their ability to recognize melodic sequences of sounds and spontaneously transpose and recognize sounds across octaves, and their understanding of symbolic references to “named” objects displaced in time or space as well as to their own body parts.

For more information click here:

http://www.dolphin-institute.org

Dr. Rochelle Constantine

Dr. John Ford

Dr. Louis Herman

Dr. Denise Herzing

Dr. Eric Hoyt

Dr. Vincent Janik

Dr. Brenda McCowan

Dr. Adam Pack

Dr. Diana Reiss

Dr. Laela Sayigh

Dr. Paul Spong

Dr. Peter Tyack

Dr. Randall Wells

Dr. Bernd Wursig

Conclusions about the nature and magnitude of dolphin intelligence have not yet been reached. There are many different species of dolphin (see the cetacea article for a full list) and generalisations can be easily misapplied. There are only a select few species that live up to the ideal of dolphin intelligence.

See more including graphics at following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetacean_intelligence