Cetacean intelligence

compelling sets of characteristics they have acquired over their 55-60-million-year evolution including echolocation ability and complex social organisation (Hof, Chanis, & Marino, 2005) have created great belief that this order contains some of the most intelligent animals (Simmonds, 2006), with the suggestion that they are second to humans in terms of general intelligence (Reiss & Marino, 2001). Modern cetacean brains are among the largest of all mammals in terms of both general size and in relation to body size, with the largest brain in the animal kingdom being possessed by the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) (Marino, 2004) with a mass of 60% larger than that of an elephant (Marino et al., 2007). It is unsurprising that encephilization (a measure of the size of the brain relative to the body) is commonly linked to cognitive abilities, with some cetaceans having the second highest encephilization quotient after humans (Manager, 2013). A hypothesis put forward by Jerison (1973) that the encephilization quotient is a biological indicator of intelligence, with high encephilization quotients…

The actual definition of intelligence and the way it can be tested in animals is the biggest problem researchers are running into. The research on dolphin intelligence is limited because it’s difficult and expensive to do in the wild. Dolphins in captivity, are therefore may not be representative of the wild dolphin and may respond differently based on their surroundings. The U.S. Navy has carried out extensive research on the dolphin and have even trained them to search and tag mines, but…

environment during high seas levels occurring near end of Miocene Epoch (23 million to 5 million years ago.) (Britannica.com,2017) The Indian river dolphin (platanista) are part of the family of platanistidae, whereas the India, lipotes make up the family iniidae. River dolphins are less athletic than most other dolphins, river dolphins don't make the usually sensational leaps and dives and they instead spend their time on the bottom of the river's bottom probing for mud loving fish and…

Dolphin: Spy in the Pod Come discover the amazing world of dolphins in this factual film by Robert Pilley, Mathew Gordon, John Downer and narrated by David Tennant. See up close footage of several different species of dolphins behavior and the unique cameras used to capture them. Would you like to know about how dolphins jump, how long a baby stay with its mother. How about how they communicate, mating rituals, and hunt. Join the nautilus, spy turtle, spy dolphin, spy tuna, and spy ray on their…

Common Bottlenose Dolphin: Anatomy: Common Bottlenose Dolphins are marine animals that live their whole life in the water. Their blowhole is on top of their head. Their ears are close to their eyes. They have 2 fins; a set of fins called Pectoral Fins that helps them swim. The other one is a single fin on top of their head further away from the blowhole called the Dorsal Fin that helps them keep stable against the water currents. They have a small patch of skin on their stomach that is…

One culture that has been affected by its physical location is the Minoan Culture of the Aegean islands. This culture was located on the island of Crete during the time period of 3650 BC- 1420 BC. It is clear to see the major influences of this cultures by examining not only the artwork, but the Palace of Knossos. In this essay I aim to display how the sea influenced Minoan culture by using Minoan art. The Palace of Knossos was home to King Minos of the Minoans. In this palace we can see…

the cove off, they leave them there till the next morning. Then dolphin trainers come and select the dolphins they want for the dolphinariums. They are primarily looking for bottlenose dolphin, they’re looking for flipper, so they collect young females. Then they are flown all over the world. Taiji is the largest supplier of dolphins to marine parks and swim dolphin programs around the world. The dolphin drives begins in September and go through March. The Taiji Whale Museum broker make deals…

Sometimes, if there is an abundance of food, multiple different pods come together to form a superpod, which can have over 1,000 members. Dolphins even have personalized whistles, which are like names. Studies show that orca pods even have their own “language” of clicks and whistles which they use to communicate (orcas are not actually whales, they are the largest type of dolphin). Parent dolphins sometimes punish young dolphins for misbehaving, and studies have shown that dolphins are some of…

The article by PHYS.ORG (2014) was written about the new dolphin species of Victoria, Australia, called the Burrunan dolphin. This species was recently discover by Dr. Kate Charlton-Robb, 3 years ago, in 2011 (PHYS.ORG, 2014). Although not a lot is known about them, there is a concern surrounding the conservation of Burrunan dolphins (PHYS.ORG, 2014). The population size of the species is very small and according to Dr. Charlton-Robb, for each region there are less than 100 dolphins that can…

Introduction A splash occurs as a creature leaps from the water into the air, arcs of water droplets falling from its bottle-like snout and flippers. This creature is a bottlenose dolphin. I chose the bottlenose dolphin because it is one of the world’s smartest creatures, along with being altruistic and playful towards other dolphins, humans, and even whales. I was inspired to research more about bottlenose dolphins after seeing several dolphins in the ocean while on vacation at Maui, and I…