Dolphin Commnication Much More Complex Than Thought

[Schneibster]

New research into the vocalizations made by Tursiops Truncatus, the bottle-nosed dolphin, shows that their communication noises are far more complex than previously thought. This is because instead of whistling, which researchers up until now assumed they were doing, they are actually using a region of tissue that they can manipulate with internal musculature to make complex vocalizations, much the same way humans use their vocal cords. This allows far greater expressive capabilities than are available using whistles.

In fact, the researchers believe due to the existence of highly analogous structures in all the Odontoceti, the toothed whales, which include pilot whales, killer whales, and Physeter Macrocephalus, the sperm whale, the largest predator that has ever lived on Earth. This also has profound implications to our understanding of the level of mentation these animals are capable of; instead of simplistic herding behaviors, these toothed whales are capable of expressing complex ideas, probably mostly concerned with social interactions involving reporting of local temperature and feeding conditions, local availability of female or male animals capable (perhaps even interested?) in mating, and so forth, at a level of complexity comparable to our own. Physeter may be communicating such information at distances of hundreds or even thousands of miles, using infrasonic echo effects that utilize the thermoclines, areas where abrupt changes in water temperature with depth form "channels" that can carry sound astonishingly long distances.

Some of this is just speculation, but it is certain that we have seriously misunderstood the mental capabilities of the Odontocetes and especially their ability to communicate. They are almost certainly smarter than chimps or gorillas; we'll have to wait until we start to understand their language before we can say how close they are to us.

Early on in dolphin research, many assumed that we would find dolphins to be smarter than great apes, but these hopes were initially dashed when researchers concluded (we now know erroneously) that dolphins whistled. Whistles are not complex enough to serve as more than fairly simple signals; equivalent to a dog barking, "Dog here, dog here, dog here," or as the famous Far Side comic titled "What dogs are saying" puts it, "Hey!" "Hey! Hey hey hey!" "Hey!" Scientists therefore disappointedly concluded that dolphins' large brains were being used for something other than being smart; popular theories were building a sonic picture of their environment, and controlling a large number of small muscles under their skin in order to use hydrodynamics to catch fish. Now we know, though, that there is scope for far more. We will hopefully start being able to understand them in the next few decades.

Read all about it.

[Clinton Huxley]

Douglas Adams was right, then...

[Schneibster]

And Alpher and Hermann were wrong. Hell, Ken Norris worked with spinners for much of his adult life, doing his most famous work with them and never realized it, or if he did never challenged their work in print.

I had dismissed this idea as a fantasy years ago. It's amusing to find it opening up again.

Puts kind of a new spin on eating whales, huh? Because if the Odontoceti can do it... and in any case, they hunt Physeter. It may be murder, if that's defined as the killing of a sentient being.

[Clinton Huxley]

It's a fascinating question - what does a dolphin or a whale think about? Are they just thinking "Damn me, I could go another fish!" or are they having more abstract thoughts, like "Hey, the humans are saying they went to the Moon! Ha ha ha, those crazy two-legs!"

[Schneibster]

Well, with dolphins because of the ways they fish a lot of it's probably social. "I'm gonna get that little shit..." "Damn, she's cute, gotta get me some'a that..." Like that.

Remember Physeter hunts giant squid (though the main diet is mid-sized squid, under a half-kilogram apiece). Full grown males have no known predators but man; an Orca is less than half their size, vulnerable to a fluke strike or a bite (this is a toothed whale, a predator, not a baleen whale).

[Animavore]

Schneibster, I know you can't watch it over there, but I'm (very) sure there are alternative ways to watch last month's Inside Nature's Giants featuring the sperm whale http://www.channel4.com/programmes/insi ... sode-guide

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And Alpher and Hermann were wrong. Hell, Ken Norris worked with spinners for much of his adult life, doing his most famous work with them and never realized it, or if he did never challenged their work in print.

I had dismissed this idea as a fantasy years ago. It's amusing to find it opening up again.

Puts kind of a new spin on eating whales, huh? Because if the Odontoceti can do it... and in any case, they hunt Physeter. It may be murder, if that's defined as the killing of a sentient being.

What's wrong with cannibalism?

[Atheist-Lite]

That's how they get mixed into my tins of tuna then? Damn, they are smart and tasty.

[Schneibster]

Schneibster, I know you can't watch it over there, but I'm (very) sure there are alternative ways to watch last month's Inside Nature's Giants featuring the sperm whale http://www.channel4.com/programmes/insi ... sode-guide

It may come out on PBS. The best BBC science shows generally do. I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks!

Have you read Ken Norris' book on his research on the spinners? Fascinating. He was at UCSC just up on the other side of the Bay from here.

[Schneibster]

And Alpher and Hermann were wrong. Hell, Ken Norris worked with spinners for much of his adult life, doing his most famous work with them and never realized it, or if he did never challenged their work in print.

I had dismissed this idea as a fantasy years ago. It's amusing to find it opening up again.

Puts kind of a new spin on eating whales, huh? Because if the Odontoceti can do it... and in any case, they hunt Physeter. It may be murder, if that's defined as the killing of a sentient being.

What's wrong with cannibalism?

[Animavore]

Schneibster, I know you can't watch it over there, but I'm (very) sure there are alternative ways to watch last month's Inside Nature's Giants featuring the sperm whale http://www.channel4.com/programmes/insi ... sode-guide

It may come out on PBS. The best BBC science shows generally do. I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks!

Have you read Ken Norris' book on his research on the spinners? Fascinating. He was at UCSC just up on the other side of the Bay from here.

It's not BBC. It's Channel 4. It's on its third series. It would've been out by now.
Never even heard of Ken Norris. Will look up.

[Schneibster]

Not being British...

Ken Norris was the foremost dolphin behaviorist on Earth at the time of his death. Don't be embarrassed; I'd never heard of him either before I came across that book and bought it on a whim. I believe it's "Kenneth." Amazon was a high hit and had the book on the link it popped up when I was googling to check my spelling of his name.

[Animavore]

It's ok. I'm not British either

Torrents are handy.

[Schneibster]

Thanks. I think.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And Alpher and Hermann were wrong. Hell, Ken Norris worked with spinners for much of his adult life, doing his most famous work with them and never realized it, or if he did never challenged their work in print.

I had dismissed this idea as a fantasy years ago. It's amusing to find it opening up again.

Puts kind of a new spin on eating whales, huh? Because if the Odontoceti can do it... and in any case, they hunt Physeter. It may be murder, if that's defined as the killing of a sentient being.

What's wrong with cannibalism?

I had a blind date with a gal on Key West once. She turned out to be a total waste of time so I decided to have some fun. I knew one of the waiters at a local restaurant and I steered her there. Then I excused myself and went in the back. I made sure my friend would wait on us. When we ordered I ordered the "dolphin", which is also the name for a local fish. She looked startled and then evidently had an "ah-ha!" moment and rattled on about how she loved fish too!

When our food arrived my plate was laden with a very large steak. She took one look at it, screamed, and fled.