Are Dolphins Intelligent?

In scientific terms, self-awareness is observing an animal's reaction to its mirror image. If the animal is able to realize that the image is of itself, then it is said to be self-aware. Experiments have proven that bottle-nose dolphins are indeed self-aware. They saw their piscine faces in that silvered glass, and knew that they think, therefore they Am.

Dolphins come in many different varieties, as do human races. They interact with one another in social ways, pass information on through a form of language, and can interact and comply with direction from other species(humans) as well. Therefore, Dolphins can be said to be an intelligent species, self-aware and deserving of the same rights we allow ourselves.

The basic problem in studying non-human intelligence is to come up with a universal definition of intelligence. One such definition is that intelligence is the ability to use language and create tools to manipulate the environment. This may seem logical, and indeed mankind seems to be the perfect example of this, however the very perfectness with which our species fits this title is an argument that its humanocentric nature is too limiting.

By making the requirements for intelligence to strict for any but humans to fulfill, and primates to a lesser degree, it makes it 'impossible' to define any other species as intelligent. Also, this approach has problems based on the fact that we perceive this all through all-too-human eyes and perceptions. Human introspection and rationalization would make it a sure bet that nothing would ever be able to attain the plateau of 'intelligence' along side us. As Kenenth Marable argues, "If the same criterion that are used to rule out non-human intelligence were applied to humans without the benefit of introspection, we would doubt even our own intelligence.

Therefore one of the first goals of interspecies intelligence studies is to create a quantitative scale to measure the intelligence of animals. As standardized testing such as we use for the IQ test was deemed illogical, scientists began to compare the size of an animal's brain to that of its body, known as the Encephalization Quotient (EQ). The scale was arranged so that the expected value is one, and anything higher than that denotes a comparably higher intelligence. The validity of this test is shown by the fact that humans have the highest score of any animal on the planet, with a 7 (although this could just be another reflection of the bias of the species creating the test), however what is also interesting is that primates only score a 2.34, while dolphins score a 4.5. So when measured by an intelligence test that measures the size of the brain, the intelligence of dolphins is shown as second only to that of humans.

However this test was also not as accurate as many had hoped. So the search for an absolute measure of intelligence moved on to testing cortical folding as a possible standard. The theory of cortical folding is that the more folds and wrinkles a brain has, the more surface area is uncovered, which is thought to be a necessity for greater intelligence. Interestingly, humans are not even at the top of this scale, as Dolphin brains measure a higher rate of cortical folding. So according to the test measuring not he size of the brain, but its surface area, dolphins are also shown to be very intelligent (perhaps the most intelligent) creatures.

Dolphins also have a sophisticated method which they use to keep aware of their surroundings, called Echolocation. Now, everyone knows that dolphins make clicking sounds. What everyone doesn't know, is that they use these sounds in order to see by echolocation. The term echolocation refers to an ability that dolphins (and some other marine mammals and most bats) have that enables them to "see" with their ears by listening for echoes. Dolphins echolocate by producing clicking sounds and then receiving and interpreting the sounds that bounce back to them. Since sound waves travel through water faster than through air these sound waves bounce off objects in the water and return to the dolphin in the form of an echo much quicker than they would to bats, or other terrestrial echolocators.

However, high frequency sounds don't travel far in water. Because of their longer wavelength and greater energy, low frequency sounds travel farther. So dolphin echolocation is most effective at close to intermediate range, about 16 to 656 feet, whereas something that emitted deeper sounds, like a whale, would have a proportionally longer range. Dolphins produce a sound in the air passages in their heads, an oil-filled organ or 'melon' in the forehead enables dolphins to focus and beam clicks through the water in front of them. Upon striking an object, the sounds will reflect, or "echo" back. By interpreting these echoes,dolphins can distinguish the direction, distance, speed, size,shape, and even the density of an object. The closer the dolphin is to a target, the more information he can acquire. The obvious advancement of their method of sensing is the byproduct of many eons of evolution. Could this not be combined with a proportionally large brain, and lack of tool making appendages, to form an intelligence that we humans are unable to recognize?

More proof that dolphins are intelligent can be found in the fact that they have developed their own language, which , if you remember, is one of the requirements for the first, erroneously anthropocentric, intelligence test. Bottle-nose dolphins communicate mainly by means of sounds and are almost constantly vocal. The sounds they make include high-pitched whistles or squeals, and short, pulse-type sounds, or squawks, which they produce with their blowholes. These 'squawks' can have an average of 300 sounds per pulse. They also use breaching (jumping and falling back into the water with a loud splash) and flipper and fluke(tail) slaps (hitting the flipper or fluke on the water surface). Body posturing and jaw popping also have a role in communication.

Bottle-nose dolphins also identify themselves with a signature whistle. A mother dolphin may whistle to her calf almost continuously for several days after giving birth. This helps the calf learn how to identify its mother. Dolphins regulate their sounds by shunting air through the many air sacs that are beneath their blowholes. Tissue structures in this area slap together to produce the clicks. These sounds can often extend into the ultrasound region, much too high pitched to be detected by a human.

As mentioned before, dolphins can get specific information about a target by altering the rate and frequency of the clicks they produce. While the clicks are definitely used in echolocation, the other sounds seem to be involved in communication. Squawking sounds seem to be related to a dolphin's emotional state. Those sounds often associated with aggression have a "squawking" or "barking" quality. Dolphins produce "squeaking" tones when engaging in playful activities, and "chirping" sounds can be heard during sexual interaction.

The dolphin language is very different from our own, however. Most importantly, a large component of our communications involve facial expressions and body language, something that, if dolphins do in fact use, they do so at such a subliminal level that we are unable to recognize, or on a large scale which we cannot comprehend or emulate, as mentioned before in reference to various aquatic acrobatic maneuvers dolphins perform to communicate. Also, they do not have vocal cords such as humans possess, so their rapid clicks, produced by the melon structure, and the squeaks and squawks that can be produced by manipulation of their blowholes are the only medium they have. Researchers have been unable to translate any of these sounds, which has led to the debate over dolphin intelligence stretching out for a long time, but most agree that the evidence that they communicate with a form of language is unmistakable.

Further evidence of the intelligence of dolphins is the ease with which they can learn and master both simple and complex actions. Bottle-nose dolphins adapt well to human company and as stated before are easily trained to perform complex tricks and tasks. This works better when they are broken into smaller steps, aided by reward, similar to the methods of persuading people to do things they don't want to do/fear by bringing them up to it bit by bit (incremental therapy). This similarity in teaching methods, as well as the facility with which these creatures pick up on what they are expected to do, is another indication of the above-average intelligence of the dolphin.

We personify dolphins. We like to think that dolphins enjoy being around us as much as we do them. Is it possible that dolphins share our company simply to take in new faces? Some species can become bored with their own kind, are dolphins one? Do they want to encounter new species purely out of curiosity. Who gets more out of the relationship: the human or the dolphin? Dolphins provide us with insight into the realms of anatomy, behavior and communication. Still, our curiosity pushes us to learn more. Their grasp of language and communication, the ease with which they learn complex feats that would be impossible for a human athletes, and the gentle nature and fun loving personalities they have enrich our lives. Although we admire other animals, dolphins may be our only chance for having equals that we could learn and benefit from. But intelligent or no, dolphins remain high on our list of species that fascinate us.