Nineteen centuries ago,
Plutarch, a Greek moralist and biographer
made this statement: "to the dolphin
alone, beyond all other, nature has
granted what the best philosophers seek:
friendship for no advantage". 1 In
our own times Barbara Tufty made the
comment "he [Dolphins] also exhibits
a friendly willingness to cooperate with
other earth creatures -- a rare attribute
which another animal, Homo Sapiens, has
not yet learned to do with any
consistency".2 Apparently there is
something quite impressive about
Dolphins. Not only now, when we are
learning so much more about them, but
even in the year 62 AD!
Outside of his striking
friendliness, the Dolphin seems to have
been blessed with a well developed sense
of humor. Dolphins have been known to
silently maneuver behind an unsuspecting
pelican and snatch its tail feathers --
usually leaving the bird minus a few.
Other pranks include grabbing
unsuspecting fish by the tail, pulling
them backward a few feet as well as
bothering slow turtles by rolling them
over and over. Once a dolphin was seen
placing a piece of squid near a grouper's
rock cranny. When the fish came out, the
dolphin promptly snatched the bait away,
leaving the puzzled fish behind.
In 1965 Anthropologist
Gregory Bateson made the discovery that
dolphins live in social groups dominated
by a leader. This tie is so strong that
dolphins kept in total isolation will
suffer ill health and possibly death. It
has also been observed that dolphins
frequently stroke each other with their
flippers, hence, indicating that they
require physical contact much like
humans. A dolphin's skin is extremely
delicate and easily injured by rough
surfaces--very similar to human skin.
At Marine Studio
Oceanarium, Bimbo, an 18 foot pilot whale
stopped eating and became aggressive to
smaller dolphins in the tank. The
trainers, after a long issue, decided
that maybe his ego needed bolstering. So
they proceeded to drain the tank to the
three-foot level. Bimbo, now stranded,
began to whistle piteously. Soon all the
dolphins gathered around and comforted
him with conversation which consisted of
whistles, chirps and the usual dolphinese
sounds. When the tank was again refilled,
Bimbo's manners improved immediately.3
Do dolphins talk? Maybe.
The above, the next two incidents, and
the others scattered throughout this
paper will probably lead you to the
conclusion that they at least communicate
with each other.
In 1962 Dr. Dreher and
Dr. Evans were aboard the research vessel
Sea Quest, 300 miles south of San Diego,
studying gray whales. They had strung a
number of vertical aluminum poles and
microphones inside Scammon's Lagoon,
erecting a type of barrier. A short time
later five Pacific Bottle-nosed dolphins
were spotted about 500 yards from the
barrier. After a few minutes of what was
labeled conversation, a scout was sent
from the group. Microphones picked up his
sonar soundings as he closely surveyed
the poles. When he returned to the pod an
explosion of whistles, chirps and Bronx
cheer-like noises were recorded via
microphones. After several minutes of
conversation the dolphins proceeded
through the barrier and into the bay.4
A similar occurrence was
noted when, in 1962, several Lockheed
Aircraft Corporation scientists erected a
similar barrier across a channel, this
time with stronger microphones. As the
dolphins approached clicking noises were
heard -- possibly sonar soundings. They
gathered into a group in nearby shallow
water about 400 feet from the barrier.
During this time lots of clicks and
squeaky-door sounds were recorded. A
scout left the group and examined the
barrier. When the dolphin returned he was
greeted in the same manner as before.
After about four minutes of conversation
another scout was sent out. Upon his
return he too was greeted with the
explosion of whistles. After about two
and a half minutes the dolphins merrily
clicked through the barrier. Returning
into the bay that afternoon, and the next
morning leaving the bay, the pod did not
send a scout when they came to the
barrier.....nor did they even slow down.5
Dr. John C. Lilly, who
has provided extensive research on
dolphins, performed the following two
experiments which I consider well worthy
of notice.
Using a mind probe set in
the brain, which when stimulated with an
electrical current gave the dolphin a
rewarding sensation, Dr. Lilly set up a
switch where Dolphin #6 could reward
himself by pushing a lever. "While I
was assembling it, I noticed that the
dolphin was closely watching what I was
doing. Almost before I could finish
assembling and placing the rods necessary
to push the switch (which was out of the
water above the animal), the dolphin
started pushing on the rod. By the time
the switch was connected to the rest of
the apparatus he had learned the proper
way to push it."6
There was no random or
apparent accidental contacts before the
dolphin learned how. The same thing
happened with three different dolphins.
They seemed to anticipate the purpose of
the switch. Probably from seeing him push
it and connecting the push to the reward.
Dr. Lilly had used this same technique on
monkeys and made the statement that it
usually took a chimp about 100 random
tries before he learned to push the
button, and then a few more to learn how
to push the button.
Dr. Lilly was attempting
to make Dolphin #8 whistle a burst of a
given pitch, duration and intensity in
order to obtain a reward. The dolphin
quickly caught on. Every time he whistled
his blowhole would move and a whistle
would be emitted. Then Dr. Lilly noticed
that the dolphin had added a new rule to
the game. He was raising the pitch of
each subsequent whistle. Suddenly, the
blowhole twitched, but no sound. He had
passed our hearing range. No sound-- no
reward. Dolphin #8 emitted two more
supersonic twitches and the third was
hearable. From that time on he did not go
out of Dr. Lilly's acoustic range. The
Dolphin had determined what his hearing
range was and stayed within it.
Unfortunately the water
temperature dropped too low and this
dolphin was lost shortly after this
session.7
As far as I know this is
the first time that an obvious experiment
has been performed on a human by another
species -- and put into use afterwards.
Dolphin #8 belonged to the species
Tursiops truncatus; or commonly called a
bottle-nosed dolphin.
The brain size of a
bottle-nosed dolphin is comparable to
ours at birth and, during their lifetime
develops well into the upper levels of
the maximum size for modern man -- about
1700 grams. A dolphin's brain size
increases very rapidly during youth and
seems to slow down at nine years of age.
This decrease is less than our slow down
which occurs at our equivalent age of 17
years and afterwards.
As a brain grows in size
and as a child ages, immersed in many
daily language situations, both brain and
language increase in complexity. The
usual human brain reaches 1400 grams at
10 to 17 years of age. The levels of
complex thinking at this time increase
tremendously over that of beginning
speech.
The California Lockheed
Company has done research on Pacific
Bottle-nose dolphins under Navy
contracts. Heads of Department Dr. John
Dreher and Dr. William E. Evans have,
after much research, reported 32 distinct
patterns of dolphin whistles. Also,
nearly identical sounds are made by
Atlantic bottle-nose dolphins and Pacific
pilot whales.
Another experiment, done
by Dr. Lilly while stimulating parts of
Dolphin #6's brain with electrical
currents, proved that dolphins are
capable of making more sounds than we had
been previously aware of. Apparently Dr.
Lilly's probe stimulated the part of the
brain controlling the vocal cords. I
couldn't find the exact number of sounds
the dolphin produced, as it had been
taped. However Dr. Lilly made the comment
that he heard more types and variations
of whistles, buzzings, rasping barks, and
Bronx cheer-like noises than he'd ever
thought a dolphin capable of.
Another dolphin was
taped, after Dr. Lilly said "the TRR
is now ten per second" (train
repetition rate) repeating
"TRR" in a high pitched, Donald
Duck, quacking-like voice. The same
dolphin also picked out "three
hundred and twenty three" and also
mimicked every laugh laughed in the lab
at that time.11
A dolphin kept in
complete captivity (with only human
contacts) was trained to raise to the
surface, emit a sound when any word was
shouted over the surface of the water.
After a careful examination of all the
tapes, a conclusion was made that 18% of
the sounds he emitted were considered
humanoid emissions -- in other words, the
dolphin was imitating our words.
There were several
mentions where research was in process to
compile a dictionary of
"Dolphinese" but I couldn't
find any results.
It has been suggested
that the reason dolphins always seem to
be grinning is that they understand our
language and are patiently waiting for us
to learn theirs. With this thought in
mind, I found that languages do exist in
several human communities where people
communicate by whistling. The most
mentioned example was the Mazateco
language in Mexico. Could Dolphins learn
and speak one of these human whistling
languages? Whether this is feasible or
not, I don't know, but it might be well
worth the effort if it could allow us to
meet them halfway!
Ever since the first time
man ventured into the sea, dolphins have
been man's friend. Throughout history
mentions are made showing this.
In Plutarch's book On the
Cleverness of Animals and explanation was
made of Odysseus worship of dolphins.
Apparently Odysseus' son, Telmachos, fell
into the sea and was saved by a dolphin.
"And this was why his father had
dolphins engraved on his ring and
emblazoned on his shield, making his
requital to the animal"12. A more
familiar occurrence is mentioned in
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Arion, a
rich poet and musician had his life
threatened by pirates on board his ship.
His last will was to sing one last song,
and since he must die, he wished to jump
overboard, taking his own life. After a
very high-pitched, long, whaling song,
Arion jumped overboard. But he did not
drown. A dolphin carried him about 200
miles to shore. The Greek people say that
Arion was not a god and that this is true
and happened while Pereander was king
(about 60 years BC). This incident was
also recorded by historian Herodotos and
others.13
In about the year 200 AD
Athenaios and Aelian both told the
following story. A boy, Dionysios, had
somehow made friends with a wild dolphin.
The village people would come out on
'weekends' to watch the boy and dolphin
play. It seems that the dolphin would
take the boy far out to sea and stay gone
for a 'long' time, possibly most of the
day. No definite times were given. Hence
the length of this relationship is not
known, but the fact that 'rarely did
anyone come anymore' made it sound like
old stuff. Possibly it went on for
several years before the dolphin met his
tragic end. He followed the boy too far
one day and was stranded on the beach. No
one was around to help carry the dolphin
back to sea and the dolphin died. 14
In 1962 a dolphin became
very famous at Oponoi beach for his
friendliness with people. He would show
up every day and allow the children to
play with him. About two thousand years
ago in the Roman colonial town Hippo (now
Bigerta, Africa, near Tunis) in the mouth
of Hokianga Harbor a dolphin also allowed
himself to be played with. In each case
one person was allowed to ride on the
dolphin's back.
There is a Greek legend
that shows that the Greeks did consider
the dolphin more than just a fish:
Dionysos, god of wine and frenzy, was
mistaken and to be sold as a slave. He
was aroused to anger and changed the
rowing oars into snakes. When the men
felt "madness" coming on they
leaped overboard, turning into dolphins.
This is how the first dolphins were
created, and why dolphins always help
man.
In present day, man has
started working with trained dolphins. A
famous example of this is Tuffy, a
trained porpoise who carried messages to
Sealab I. He was by far the fastest means
of transporting materials back and forth,
as it took him only nine seconds for the
round trip. Tuffy even rescued a
simulated lost diver who called the
dolphin with a buzzer.
In 1965 a young male
dolphin named Keiki (who was caught in
1964 off Oahu) worked in the open sea off
Oahu Hawaii, for 7 days. He was trained
to return to a wire cage at night and
come to a whistle. When he was first
taken out to sea, he seemed fearful, but
returned every evening to his cage and
never once tried to rejoin wild dolphins
even when a school swam within 400 feet
of him.
After hearing so much
good about dolphins, it's time to hear
some of the bad. Right? Since I did want
to produce a true picture I tried to look
for some negative facts. Would you
believe I really couldn't find any!
What if we could
communicate with dolphins. What could we
learn from them? Is it possible for man
and dolphins to work side-by-side as
equals? No. Most likely not as equals.
Dolphins have no prehensile extremities;
hence their intelligence has never gone
in the direction of manipulating their
environment -- their thoughts have been
left to develop inward. Hence their
culture would be totally different from
ours. But I do think that there is a
large possibility that dolphins have an
intelligence at least equal to ours even
if it is in another direction. If this is
true then our future at sea has a most
promising outlook!
As we continue in our
quest to manipulate our environment, what
does science hope to learn from the
Dolphin? For one thing, the secret to his
sonar would help the navy in sonar
development. A dolphin's built-in sonar
far surpasses the performance of man-made
equipment. He can not only tell size,
shape and texture, but also density.
Furthermore, no one has, as of yet, been
able to jam their sonar. The dolphin's
ability to directionalize his sonar beam
lends a glint of jealously in any
scientist eyes. An excellent example of
this is the fact that a dolphin can find
a single BB (shot) when dropped at the
far end of a 70 foot pool in less than 20
seconds.
Sonar isn't the only
dolphin secret science is after, not by
far. The shape of the dolphin's body and
its ability to reach unbelievable speeds
(40 knots and up) could help aviation as
well as seafaring vessel development.
