Dolphins have names for each other
Research by Stephanie King at the University of St. Andrews has shown that Bottlenose dolphins actually call one another by name, using ‘signature’ whistles to identify themselves and connect with other dolphins. These whistles can be heard up to 12.4 miles away, and Ms King observed that dolphins copy the ‘signature’ whistles of other dolphins when separated from them. In close relationships such as a mother to her calf or mate, the whistles maintain social bonds, just as human language is used.
Scientists have been hesitant to call these sounds a language, but Lori Marino, an evolutionary neurobiologist and cetacean specialist at Emory University, says the structure of the sounds made by dolphins has an organisational complexity that is very like the grammar and syntax of human languages. She point to the intelligence of dolphins and the fact that they process information and make decisions quickly, and says the fluidity of movement in a dolphin group suggests a highly developed level of social cohesion. All this has been known before, but the realisation that the small cetaceans have names for each other is causing some scientists to say that dolphins should be considered as ‘non-human persons’. A group in Helsinski, Finland is drafting a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans.
Read more: here.
The same site reveals that 900 dolphins were killed in the Solomon Islands on New Year’s Day 2013. The Earth Island Institute, a Berkeley-based conservation group, has been trying to stop the annual dolphin slaughter, but the Islands supply live dolphins to aquariums in China and Dubai for up to $150,000 each. When a payment of $400,000 to stop the hunt failed to materialise, the dolphins were killed.
Read more: here.
