NationStates Jolt Archive

I've just caught the end of an incredible documentary on British TV, about the intelligence of dolphins.

It showed dolphins who had learnt to understand human sign language. They responded correctly to questions such as "Is there a basket in the pool?" and "Is there a frisbee in the pool?". When told, in sign language, "Find the double of this object" (i.e., pick it out from a row of objects), the dolphin did so.

More impressive yet: A dolphin was told: "Put the frisbee in the basket". There was a basket in the pool, but no frisbee, so it was a trick question. The dolphin went to get the basket, carried it over to a buzzer that signals "No", and pressed "No".

Even more astonishing is the fact that dolphins can watch a TV screen and respond to questions put to them through a TV. In other words, they can recognise a two dimensional image on a screen as being a representation of the real thing. The documentary showed a man instructing a dolphin (with sign language), though a TV, to blow bubbles, roll over and flap its flippers in the air.

The programme also showed how dolphins communicate amongst themselves in complex ways, and how (just like humans) they're able to adapt creatively to new settings... for instance, finding creative new ways to hunt in shallow waters.

The programme finished by showing an example of cooperation between dolphins and human fishermen in Brazil. At designated times (chosen by the dolphins), humans and dolphins gather in a specific area. The humans wait for a precise signal (a lone dolphin jumping out of the water and flipping onto its back), by which the dolphins inform the humans that they've herded a schoal of fish. The humans then cast their nets, and the fish have nowhere to go except into the nets or straight to the dolphins. Remarkable.

So dolphins
* understand yes and no, and can answer yes/no questions
* understand instructions to find, identify, bring and associate objects
* understand fairly complex sentences and instructions in sign language
* recognise two-dimensional images
* adapt to new settings, cooperate, and can actually initiate cooperation with humans.

So, they're smarter than, let's say, your average mall rat.

Eventually they will evovle to a point where they start hating each other and making insane religions.

Next, their ability to adapt lost, because they have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and be damned if they're gonna change their ways if it is detrimental to their own ecosystem.

Oh, and the coming of pop-starlettes....

Boy, I can't wait

So, they're smarter than, let's say, your average mall rat.

Eventually they will evovle to a point where they start hating each other and making insane religions.

Next, their ability to adapt lost, because they have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and be damned if they're gonna change their ways if it is detrimental to their own ecosystem.

Oh, and the coming of pop-starlettes....

Boy, I can't wait

LOL

Eventually they will evovle to a point where they start hating each other and making insane religions.

Next, their ability to adapt lost, because they have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and be damned if they're gonna change their ways if it is detrimental to their own ecosystem.

Oh, and the coming of pop-starlettes....

Boy, I can't wait

You've revived my temporarily dormant pessimism, damn you. :(

http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/4452.jpg

Dolphins are, of course, the second-most intelligent beings on Earth.

Right behind the mice.

I believe correct quote for this thread is 'So long, and thanks for all the fish'.

edit: damn, someone beat me with a better quote. :(

I just hope the Dolphins are smart enough to beat Pittsburgh.

I believe correct quote for this thread is 'So long, and thanks for all the fish'.

edit: damn, someone beat me with a better quote. :(
DAMN YOU! That was mine! :mad: :headbang:

My thoughts are as follows:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28315

Dolphins are, of course, the second-most intelligent beings on Earth.

But do they know the question ?

Dolphins are, of course, the second-most intelligent beings on Earth.


http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/545/tbdmd4.jpg

Dolphins are, of course, the second-most intelligent beings on Earth.

I'd say monkeys. I mean, we have one of them in possibly the most powerful position humanly known.

http://www.million-bush.com/artworks/millionbush_george-bush.jpg

when they say sign language do they mean actual sign language or just gestures?

I'd say monkeys. I mean, we have one of them in possibly the most powerful position humanly known.

http://www.million-bush.com/artworks/millionbush_george-bush.jpg

*Considers*

*weighs*

*measures*

Nope. Definitely dolphins. :p

when they say sign language do they mean actual sign language or just gestures?

They mean a specific sign language designed for them. Each sign corresponds to a noun ("basket") or verb ("identify", "place in") or concept ("well done").

Doesn't surprise me, if Douglas Adams believed it I think that's a pretty good indicator of its truthfulness.

'Humans are, of course, only the 3rd most intelligent life form on Earth. The Second most intelligent life form on Earth is the dolphin, who had tried to warn the humans for some time about the Earth's impeding demolition for some years. The dolphins last message, a triple back somersault dive through a hoop while whistling the Star Spangled Banner was translated as 'So long, and thanks for all the fish.'

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchikers Guide To The Universe.

'Humans are, of course, only the 3rd most intelligent life form on Earth. The Second most intelligent life form on Earth is the dolphin, who had tried to warn the humans for some time about the Earth's impeding demolition for some years. The dolphins last message, a triple back somersault dive through a hoop while whistling the Star Spangled Banner was translated as 'So long, and thanks for all the fish.'

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchikers Guide To The Universe.

:eek:
You dare get the title wrong?! I say we force you to listen to Vogon Poetry! :mad:

Not a surprise at all. Humans are not the only smart animal on the block. Several are very close, possibly more than, to our intelligence.

Very cool. I love dolphins.

http://igargoyle.com/archives/Neofin-thumb.jpg

The dolphins are preparing for war!

http://www.eddiewade.co.uk/dolphin.gif

Cool, I had herd before about the dolphins understanding sign language, but I had not heard about their understaning of a written language on a tv screen. I have been aware of experiments with dolphins and TV's, but those were mostly related to testing self-awareness. (Knowing that a picture or reflection is just that, not another human, dolphin, ape, etc.) I'd never heard of them in this kind of use with 2-D language.

Dolphins' intelligence has promted me to set my life on a course where I may join the US Navy Marine Mammal Program (http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/), and do dolphin research in general. If you are on II much, you may know my nation gives dolphins the same rights as humans, and if great leaps an bounds in research like these continue, there may be soon some where that does as well. Probably not on a national level, but maybe county, or even state, with an eventual increase to a national level.

You may also be intrested in this:
Dolphins and the Question of Personhood
http://www.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/000059/Etica%20animali%20Herzing%20White%201998.pdf (http://www.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/000059/Etica%20animali%20Herzing%20White%201998.pdf)

They say tuna is brainfood. I guess it's because of all the dolphin in it.

They say tuna is brainfood. I guess it's because of all the dolphin in it.
:cool:
:p:D:(

That comment sparked such a range of emotions that I don't think I will ever need to do drugs. Congratulations. *hands you a spool of thread*

I just hope the Dolphins are smart enough to beat Pittsburgh.


HAHA. Not likely.


And damn you for stealing what I was going to reference to.

Dolphins are no worse, but no better than humans...

They kill others...
Over 60% of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) found dead on the north-east coast of Scotland show signs of attack by sympatric bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) (Ross & Wilson 1996). The occurrence of these violent attacks has been confrmed by direct observations, but the reason(s) for the interactions remain(s) unclear (Ross & Wilson 1996). Post-mortem evidence in other areas of the UK where the two species coexist (P. Jepson and J. Baker, personal communication) now suggests that the attacks are not simply due to the aberrant behaviour of one or two individuals of north-east Scotland, but are more widespread.
Link (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/zoology/lighthouse/documents/infanticide.pdf) (.pdf warning)

In 1996, Ben Wilson from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and H.M. Ross from Inverness, coauthors of the recent article, reported that 60 percent of harbor porpoises found dead on the northeast Scottish coast appeared to have been killed by dolphins. To identify the killers, Wilson compared teeth marks seen on some of the corpses with mammal jaws in museums.

Since then, people have caught some attacks on video, Patterson reports. One to three dolphins chase a porpoise and ram their beaks into it hard enough to toss it into the air. "When [it's] thrown high out of the water, there's massive twisting injury," Patterson says. Blubber and muscle rip away from the bones.

The attackers make no attempt to eat the victims. "Once the porpoise is dead, it's like flicking a light switch. The dolphins immediately lose interest and just go on their way," Patterson observes. What prompts the attacks remains a fountainhead of speculation. Hypotheses range from rough play to sexual frustration.
Link (http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc98/7_18_98/fob1.htm)

And they kill their own species, including infanticide...

...dolphins seem to have murderous urges unrelated to the need for food. They have even been observed in recurring acts of infanticide. Off Scotland, a scientist watched in shock for nearly an hour as an adult dolphin repeatedly picked up a baby in its mouth and smacked it against the water, over and over, until it sank from view. Off Virginia, researchers found at least nine baby dolphins killed, their ribs broken, their skulls and vertebrae smashed. One small body bore puncture marks matching the pattern of adult dolphin teeth. "We have such a benign image of dolphins," said Dr. Dale J. Dunn, a veterinary pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, who aided the Virginia study. "So finding evidence of violence is disturbing." More widely, scientists and Federal officials worry about dolphins' injuring, or even killing humans, especially given the rise in watching, feeding and swimming programs.
Link (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/whales/22458)

So if even Dolphins are no better than humans, killing and murdering their neighbors and offspring, beating and maiming dozens and hundreds and leaving their mothers and babies unprotected etc., (you have to read the links to figure out the speculations about 'why' these things might be happening and it has a lot to do with sexual desires and mating with mothers of other’s offspring etc.,) perhaps there is a good reason God invented the ten commandments for social rules and the concept that parents should stay together through the institution of marriage to protect their offspring, huh? ;)


That's bound to irk a few

That's bound to irk a few

You are right..
Those things are sexually-frustrated baby-murdering racists! :eek:

I am shocked and appalled.

SNIP

the dolphins are Scottish I could of guessed this would happen (most likely after a Celtic game)

You are right..
Those things are sexually-frustrated baby-murdering racists! :eek:

I am shocked and appalled.

Even though I am a dolphin rights activist, the fact that humans have done much worse still gives me the right to lol at that. Which I have fully exercised.

Even though I am a dolphin rights activist, the fact that humans have done much worse still gives me the right to lol at that. Which I have fully exercised.

I lol with you.
'Cause that's how I lol.

Somewhat related: a video with a chimp doing an exercise on instant memory recall (http://www.dailymotion.com:80/related/6163234/video/x3o601_les-chimpanzes-et-la-memoire-immedi_news).

http://igargoyle.com/archives/Neofin-thumb.jpg

The dolphins are preparing for war!

Uplift Neofin? What game is this?

You sir, have poor expectations for what may or may not be the second most intelligent animal on the planet. I mean, a three year old could do the described. I think it is a reasonable assumption to assume that dolphins are smarter that three year olds.

Can three-year-olds do this?

http://www.sexwork.com/family/dolphins1.html

(No pics, but graphic nonetheless)

Can three-year-olds do this?

http://www.sexwork.com/family/dolphins1.html

(No pics, but graphic nonetheless)
It appears so:
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/6/69/Pedobear_8.jpg

Originally Posted by Tongass View Post
Can three-year-olds do this?

http://www.sexwork.com/family/dolphins1.html

(No pics, but graphic nonetheless)

It appears so:
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/6/69/Pedobear_8.jpg

:eek:

<snip>Always remember - the more intelligent a species, the more likely it is to engage in 'Violence' for fun (Rape, for instance, is most common in 'Intelligent' species, i.e. humans, dolphins, elephants...), and they're also most likely to identify direct competitors and engage them to remove this competition, occasionally to the point of extinction (Humans killing off various predators, the case of dolphins quoted by you, lions hunting down leopards, chimps wiping out neighboring 'Tribes', the likes).

As far as the likelyhood of 'Pointless' violence (As in, not for the direct acquisition of food) and egoism is concerned, the more intelligent the species, the more common these are.

Hum. This may actually be a reasonable indicator to grant 'Personhood' to non-human species. They only get it if a given level of violence and sheer cruelty is reached.