How do we know dolphins are so intelligent?

[GreyWanderer]

The subject says it all.

Because they don't watch television?

[apocalypse]

You can read up on some dolphin "achievements" here.

http://www.uga.edu/srel/ecoviews10-8-00.htm

If they're so dang smart, why can't they figure out that hanging out with tuna is a bad idea?


KIDDING.

[scotth]

The ability to be trained to do some surprisingly complex tasks is a big clue.

There has been a large amount of research on the subject.

You may find this of particular interest.
http://www.jhu.edu/~newslett/05-3-01/Science/2.html

[Interesting Ian]

Originally posted by GreyWanderer
The subject says it all.

They can recognise themselves in mirrors for a kick off.

[scotth]

Originally posted by Interesting Ian


They can recognise themselves in mirrors for a kick off.

OMG, I am gonna agree with an II post.

Actually, my link is a very nice summary of research done on the just that using the "mirror mark" test.

Interesting stuff.

[GreyWanderer]

Thanks everyone. This answered my question.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by Interesting Ian


They can recognise themselves in mirrors for a kick off.

How was this determined?.. ( seriously interested )

[scotth]

Originally posted by Diogenes


How was this determined?.. ( seriously interested )

Follow the link I posted.

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by scotth


Follow the link I posted.

Thanks.

Interesting read..

[neutrino_cannon]

Well, it certainly isn't on the basis of brain/mass ratio, otherwise we would consider moles and sharks very intelligent.

[Humphreys]

If they are so intelligent, how come they keep getting caught in those fishing nets?

[Skeptical Greg]

Originally posted by Humphreys
If they are so intelligent, how come they keep getting caught in those fishing nets?

Reminds me about the joke regarding the Seafood Restaurant at the " Sea World" type, amusement park.

The person was contemplating the idea that they were dining on a " slow learner "...:D

[Segnosaur]

"If dolphins are so smart, why do they live in Igloos?"
- Cartman

[serratia]

Originally posted by Segnosaur
"If dolphins are so smart, why do they live in Igloos?"
- Cartman

"intelligent and friendly on rye bread...with some mayonnaise..."

- ibid.

If dolphins are so smart, then why...

Oh, wait a minute.

[rwald]

Once again proving the famous "There's an Onion article for every topic" theory...

Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs -- "Oh ****," Says Humanity (http://www.theonion.com/onion3630/dolphins_evolve_thumbs.html)

A related quote:

"Humans think that they're smarter than dolphins because they've developed war, the atom bomb, and culture, while all dolphins do is swim around all day and have sex. Dolphins think that they're smarter than humans for the exact same reasons."
-- Douglas Adams

[Underemployed]

Paraphrasing from Douglas Adams' So Long And Thanks For All The Fish:

"Humans consider themselves more intelligent for inventing cars, money and wars instead of swimming about all day having a good time. Dolphins consider themselves more intelligent for doing the exact opposite."

I certainly wouldn't mind a spell as a dolphin. But having seen a few documentaries on the real lives of dolphins in the wild they are certainly no better off than we are, and are quite capable of being extremely mean to one another. Which in itself could be a sign of intelligence...

[rwald]

I think my paraphrase got more to the heart of the issue than yours...though I can see why you might be averse to quoting it more faithfully...;)

[Soapy Sam]

How smart, actually, do you have to be to recognise yourself in a mirror? I mean on a good day, I get it right more often than chance would predict and gods know I'm pretty thick.

How good is dolphin vision, anyway? I thought they used echo location to identify things. I can't see close up vision being that useful to dolphins. It's not like they do a lot of close up fine work, shaving and stuff.

I agree with Larry Niven, that if they have shown one piece of survival oriented intelligence , it's that they don't ever kill humans if there are witnesses, an error that may shortly bring about the end of 350 million years of shark evolution.

[Jim_MDP]

Originally posted by Soapy Sam

I agree with Larry Niven, that if they have shown one piece of survival oriented intelligence , it's that they don't ever kill humans if there are witnesses, an error that may shortly bring about the end of 350 million years of shark evolution.

"Cradle" ?

[Baker]

The studies began in 1998 at the New York Aquarium with two captive-bred bottlenose dolphins. A control was first established by marking the dolphins with a marker filled with water rather than ink. After several repetitions, they were marked with circles and triangles and then sham marked once again.

In 16 video-taped repetitions, each dolphin repeatedly swam directly to the mirror to investigate the place where it had been marked, often twisting and turning to expose the proper spot.

Fascinating story I heard the military uses dolphins for setting mines under enemy ships and subs among other task.

[sadluxation]

Originally posted by rwald
Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs -- "Oh ****," Says Humanity (http://www.theonion.com/onion3630/dolphins_evolve_thumbs.html)

A related quote:

"Humans think that they're smarter than dolphins because they've developed war, the atom bomb, and culture, while all dolphins do is swim around all day and have sex. Dolphins think that they're smarter than humans for the exact same reasons."
-- Douglas Adams

Did rwald post this on porpoise? Nyk, nyk, nyk...

[rwald]

What, it doesn't get your seal of approval?

[spoonhandler]

The info on the mirror test is interesting, but I have some questions. Presumably, the dolphins were familiar with the mirror and had been given time to check it out. Then someone draws on them with a pen with only water for ink, leaving no mark. The dolphins went to the mirror? Then someone draws on them and leaves a mark of some kind and the dolphins look in the mirror again. Was there anything about the test design that may have given the dolphins the idea that when someone uses a pen or sham pen on them they are supposed to go to the mirror? What was the purpose of the sham pen? If the dolphins were looking for a mark from the pen, wouldn't this confuse them? Did they behave differently to the sham marking?

I've seen footage of a test like this and I did get the impression the dolphins were looking at themselves in the same way we do. I'm just curious about how we interpret this behaviour.