Dolphins

[Dragar]

I just watched the most fascinating documentary about dolphins, both in the wild and in captivity. Some of the high points included:


Dolphins off the coast of florida near mud banks would swim in small groups (three or four). When fish were detected, a single dolphin would swim up ahead and kick up the mud in a circle around the fish, trapping them. Just before the circle was finished, the rest of the dolphins swim in, and they catch the confused and terrified fish which (for reasons they didn't go into) decide the only way to go is 'up'. The dolphins just catch the fish in their mouths!
A dolphin copying a human's actions. The most strange part was it had no problem identifying body parts, i.e. legs = tail, arms = flippers, etc.
A dolphin answering a trick command 'put the pipe in the basket' when there wasn't a pipe in the pool. The dolphin brought the basket back to the human, and pressed the 'no' button!
Dolphins off the coast of Brazil herding fish toward fishermen on the coast, and then signalling with a certain type of rolling dive for the fishermen to cast their nets! Nobody even recalls how long this has been going on for!
A dolphin following David Attenborough's (signed) instructions, even though the top notch narrator was on an underwater TV screen!
A pair of dolphins given the 'create together' command will carry out a synchronised movement of their own choice/creation. On closer exmamination, it seems one dolphin is 'leading' by half a second or so. But scientists haven't yet worked out how they decide which one 'leads' the other in the trick!


And this was just a small list!

I always knew they were pretty smart, and I thought I wasn't underestimating them - but it seems I have been! The number of unique behaviours dolphins display depending on their particular environment is astounding.

One of the things emphasised was the fact dolphins are highly social animals, and communicate not just with their cute clicks and whistles, but with jumps and touch, too. I don't think it's a coincidence that the intelligent apes (which include humans) are also the highly social ones.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share.

[ceptimus]

I just watched that too. :yup: I also liked the bit where the dolphins were able to detect what object (a flowerpot, or a wheel wrench shaped thing, etc.) was inside a closed opaque box! They do this with a highly sophisticated sonar - way better than anything man has developed, and they use the same sense in the wild to locate fish that have buried themselves under the sand to hide.

The documentary said that the scientists only have the dimmest understanding of all the different sounds and movements that the dolphins use to communicate. The scientists suspect that each dolphin has its own name so that the dolphins can refer to other dolphins that are not present when they are 'talking'.

[Dragar]

Glad to hear someone else watched it! I think I missed a good chunk of it, because I turned it on as a I sat down to eat and I missed the sonar detection thing.

I can't get over how intelligent they seemed!

[livius drusus]

That sounds like a fascinating program. I'm sorry I missed it. Do you know the title and production company, by any chance? Sometimes we get British documentary leftovers on the Discovery Channel or PBS.

[wei yau]

Dolphins off the coast of florida near mud banks would swim in small groups (three or four). When fish were detected, a single dolphin would swim up ahead and kick up the mud in a circle around the fish, trapping them. Just before the circle was finished, the rest of the dolphins swim in, and they catch the confused and terrified fish which (for reasons they didn't go into) decide the only way to go is 'up'. The dolphins just catch the fish in their mouths!


I remember seeing something a lot like this in the "Blue Planet" series. Although, it took place out in the deep ocean. Dolphins would herd fish just like this, forcing them up the surface. Eventually, there would be this massive ball of panicked fish being picked off by dolphins from below and seabirds from the surface.

An incredible sight.

[Godless Dave]

A pair of dolphins given the 'create together' command will carry out a synchronised movement of their own choice/creation. On closer exmamination, it seems one dolphin is 'leading' by half a second or so. But scientists haven't yet worked out how they decide which one 'leads' the other in the trick!


This reminds me of something I saw in another documentary about dolphins. Male dolphins bond with each other (or maybe signal their relationship to others) by performing synchronized swimming and play. A pair of adolescent males can spend hours together doing synchronized jumps.

[Dragar]

This reminds me of something I saw in another documentary about dolphins. Male dolphins bond with each other (or maybe signal their relationship to others) by performing synchronized swimming and play. A pair of adolescent males can spend hours together doing synchronized jumps.

Yeah, they mentioned how play seemed an important part of their social bonding. Dolphins are the only other animal that continues to play into adulthood. It seems to serve the same function for them as it does for us - social bonding. Coupled with a good brain, this leads to learning new 'tricks' for the environment.

[justaman]

Dolphins are the only other animal that continues to play into adulthood.
Well apparently you've never met my stupid dog scamp. He's almost ten now and he's still chasing tennis balls like a mofo. The idiot's going to have a heart-attack soon.

I did see that program also, and it is definitely cool. Last year I went camping on an island in the great barrier reef and to get there we had to take this big fuck off catamaran out there. Anyhow as we're going I notice this pod of dolphins zooming in from the (eh...four letters in left...four letters in...port!) port side of the boat and they did all these flips and spins in the wake when they got there. They loved that shit.

Speaking of dolphins, I met this guy whose been a biologist out bush in the northern territory for about ten years and he was telling me about flying foxes (big Australian bats, basically). He said that they had this captive colony which became tame. They released them or something and then they joined up with a wild colony. He said they were so smart it was spooky. He swears that occasionally one of the ex-tame flying foxes would bring a wild flying-fox into the camp if it was injured or sick or something. Apparently the tame flying fox would then just sit there with the wild one and chatter to it. There is no scientific explanation for what they are communication to each other, but the guy swears it was the tame one 'calming' the wild one while the wild one was getting fixed up.

This story is now third-hand, so a grain of salt might not be enough, but I'd love to see a study done into that kind of behaviour.

[Crumb]

Animals are so much more sophisticated than most modern folk give them credit for.