Dolphins have names they respond to

[jim mcnamara]

Dolphins have "names" they respond to

Bottlenose dolphins can use learned vocal labels to address each other:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/07/17/1304459110

Bottlenose dolphins use specific unique calls or whistles to refer to individuals, and each dolphin will respond to the special call for him/her. - my takeaway on the research. The animals create distinct sound patterns for each individual.

This is an early preprint. Things may change later on.

 

[Pythagorean]

Janik's first experiment was in 2006:
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/21/8293.full
Looks like this is his PhD student's dissertation (made into a paper)
Here's a review that mentions Janik's research as well as other interpretations of the observation:
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982206018203

It would be interesting to compare criticisms of Janik's interpretations to any new considerations taken in this experiment.

 

[256bits]

The animals create distinct sound patterns for each individual.

When you say that, do you mean that one dolphin can call another with a specific call, changing the pattern to call a different dolphin. Or do you mean that a particular dolphin itself has a specific call that other dolphins can recognize and respond to.


Is this that much different than a mother animal recognizing its own offsprings call and the offspring recognizing the mother's call?

 

[yenchin]

Here's an interesting related TeD talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/denise_herzing_could_we_speak_the_language_of_dolphins.html

 

[jim mcnamara]

@256bits - My take is: they are distinct sound patterns like fwee-ooo for dolphin #9, and every other dolphin in the pod knows what fwee-ooo refers to.

Read the article, I could be wrong.

[humor]
This means: there could be confusion when mega-pods form and there are multiple fwee-ooo's present, just like the announcer in a filled college football stadium who says, 'Charlie, your left your lights on'.
[/humor]

 

[fleebell]

@Jim
You meant that as humourous but what makes you think that they don't have last names too?

"fwee-ooo" might just be from pod "ooo-eee-fwa-eee"

Personally I think any animal that is smart enough to interact with others in subjects other than just eating and mating probably does have the concept of 'me' and if so they will have either vocal or other methods of communication such as ear or nose wiggles, shoulder movements, tail movements, etc... Mankind is not the only intelligent creature on this planet. We might be the smartest in comparison but that's as far as it goes. Most other intelligent animals do their best to stay away from us except domesticated dogs , cats and birds... which indicates to me that they aren't as stupid as people might think.

 

[jim mcnamara]

I don't think anything - nobody really knows at this point.

Speculation is not real science.‎ Anthropomorphizing is transferring human ideas and symbols to other species to decode other species behavior.

Example: When chimpanzees make a "smile" face it is not necessarily a positive expression.

see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2555422/figure/F1/ There is something called the ChimpFACS you can google for, but learning chimp facial expressions is not easy. The interpretations of expressions are derived from the facial musculature used in primates to make expressions. Map that to human expressions/musculature use, which we do understand.

This whole topic is analagous to decoding a radio communication from the proverbial "little green man" out there 5000ly away. We are still in the touchy-feely stage, IMO.

 

[Pythagorean]

You say that they have names, skeptics say you're anthropomorphizing; you say they don't, ethics boards will say you're anthropocentric. :tongue: