Bottlenose dolphins have been observed chattering while cooperating to solve a tricky puzzle – a feat that suggests they have a type of vocalisation dedicated to cooperating on problem solving.
Holli Eskelinen of Dolphins Plus research institute in Florida and her colleagues at the University of Southern Mississippi presented a group of six captive dolphins with a locked canister filled with food. The canister could only be opened by simultaneously pulling on a rope at either end.
The team conducted 24 canister trials, during which all six dolphins were present. Only two of the dolphins ever managed to crack the puzzle and get to the food.
The successful pair was prolific, though: in 20 of the trials, the same two adult males worked together to open the food canister in a matter of 30 seconds. In the other four trials, one of the dolphins managed to solve the problem on its own, but this was much trickier and took longer to execute.
But the real surprise came from recordings of the vocalisations the dolphins made during the experiment. The team found that when the dolphins worked together to open the canister, they made more vocalisations than they did while opening the canister on their own or when there was either no canister present or no interaction with the canister in the pool.
Hmm. Now all we need are studies that prove mice chittering decodes to discussing the meaning of 42.
Related Stories
Whales and dolphins lead 'human-like lives' thanks to big brains, says study
[In] a new study, researchers compiled a list of the rich behaviours spotted in 90 different species of dolphins, whales and porpoises, and found that the bigger the species' brain, the more complex – indeed, the more "human-like" – their lives are likely to be.
This suggests that the "cultural brain hypothesis" – the theory that suggests our intelligence developed as a way of coping with large and complex social groups – may apply to whales and dolphins, as well as humans.
Writing in the journal, Nature Ecology and Evolution [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0336-y] [DX], the researchers claim that complex social and cultural characteristics, such as hunting together, developing regional dialects and learning from observation, are linked to the expansion of the animals' brains – a process known as encephalisation.
The researchers gathered records of dolphins playing with humpback whales, helping fishermen with their catches, and even producing signature whistles for dolphins that are absent – suggesting the animals may even gossip. Another common behaviour was adult animals raising unrelated young. "There is the saying that 'it takes a village to raise a child' [and that] seems to be true for both whales and humans," said Michael Muthukrishna, an economic psychologist and co-author on the study at the London School of Economics.
Also at Newsweek.
Previously: Inter-species Communication Inches Closer
Dolphins Have a Language That Helps Them Solve Problems Together
An algorithm has been applied to approximately 52 million dolphin clicks recorded underwater, sorting them into seven distinct types, one of which was identifiable as sounds made by Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus):
A new computer program has an ear for dolphin chatter. The algorithm uncovered six previously unknown types of dolphin echolocation clicks in underwater recordings from the Gulf of Mexico, researchers report online December 7 in PLOS Computational Biology. Identifying which species produce the newly discovered click varieties [open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005823] [DX] could help scientists better keep tabs on wild dolphin populations and movements.
Dolphin tracking is traditionally done with boats or planes, but that's expensive, says study coauthor Kaitlin Frasier, an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. A cheaper alternative is to sift through seafloor recordings — which pick up the echolocation clicks that dolphins make to navigate, find food and socialize. By comparing different click types to recordings at the surface — where researchers can see which animals are making the noise — scientists can learn what different species sound like, and use those clicks to map the animals' movements deep underwater.
Related: Dolphins Have a Language That Helps Them Solve Problems Together
Another Study Identifies Complex Social and Cultural Behaviors Seen in Dolphins
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:02PM
But what I really need to know is what the squirrels are saying when they are plotting to open the bird feeder.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:00PM
First, we shall tame the avians to do our bidding by controlling their food source.
Then, we'll train our infantry using the hamster wheel.
Finally, with air and land supremacy at our side, we shall take over the world!
Squeak!
compiling...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:13PM
That sounds like what muslims are doing via halal
Besides rorting.
(Score: 2) by rufty on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:12PM
Well I can guess what these squirrels [youtube.com] are saying, or swearing...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:12PM
... that it contradicts an earlier result that proved that even given the simplest of puzzles that required communication and cooperation couldn't be solved by dolphins. There was one where the food would only be given to dolphins in a timely fashion if one communicated to another which of two buttons should be pressed - the "leader"'s food button was illuminated, and he too only got food in a timely fashion if the other cooperated. All that is required to solve that puzzle is one single bit of information - left or right. (And before you say "but the whole puzzle needs to be explained!", they were permitted to learn the same-button protocol by being in full sight of each other for weeks before a screen was introduced between them, so they both knew how it worked.)
Having said that, interpreting the result as "one third of dolphins only able to pass information to one fifth of other dolphins", the new result looks pretty weak. That, and it doesn't seem to be a problem that requires communication - it's just learnt behaviour. Two dolphins desperate to tug on any free rope presented to them will crack this puzzle and get rewarded for their eagerness every time, without a single bit of information passing between them. Put a partition between them, so that one of them doesn't know when the other gets given access to the rope, and I might believe they've got to the level of understanding "walkies!", which doesn't exactly require much intelligence in an animal.
I'm not saying they're not smart, I'm just saying that this really doesn't sound like the experiment that demonstrates it. From the summary at least.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:24PM
Maybe the problem was not cooperation, but the screen; possibly they didn't understand that it was still essentially the same situation despite the screen. After all, there are usually no screens in the open sea.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:55PM
I don't remember the details, it could be that the screen was slowly introduced, obscuring more and more of what was going on on the other side as the experiment progressed.
Open sea had nothing to do with either experiment.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 04 2016, @03:12AM
Open sea is the natural habitat of dolphins, and in particular the environment in which the dolphin brain evolved.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:47PM
>... that it contradicts an earlier result that proved ...
Link or it didn't happen.
Hearsay in these matters is most often distorted out of any semblance of reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:21PM
That only proves that dolphins are bad with buttons - especially those on a screen. Which explains why you never see dolphins using a mouse or Windows 8.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:42PM
I was under impression they are trivial to "decipher" nowadays.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:28PM
I'm gonna use Dolphin Encryption from now on. Humans are too dumb to figure it out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:07PM
They are right the Miami Dolphin's do have basic language skills. Now if they all understand the same thing at the same time, then Splash DOWN!!
(Score: 4, Touché) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:08PM
what gets me is that dolphins and apes(etc) can learn to communicate with 'human' means (pecs+pointing, sign language, etc) but we haven't a fracking clue as to what THEY are saying.
Who's more intelligent?
We like to say we are the most intelligent species on earth, but really we are just the species that is most capable of destroying the environment we live in, which makes us not that intelligent, really.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday May 03 2016, @07:57PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday May 03 2016, @09:04PM
But if we were truly intelligent, we would have passed on WW1, WW2, religion (intelligent people wouldn't have even thought of the Spanish Inquisition, let alone EXPECTED it), the atomic bomb, NSA crap, etc....
Intelligence would have meant going to the moon WITH the Russians (and now with India/China) not as a race to see who was better, faster, stronger, but as a challenge to be met and surpassed. We could probably have lunar inhabitants, maybe be on Mars already...
We would have 'open' and shared medicine research again, instead of Corporations running things and locking away the data, and research meaning patents and dollars, even at the expense of people dying...
We wouldn't be killing bees (and therefore, possibly our food supply) for the sake of another dollar.
Yes, we have done some amazing things, here on Earth, but our 'true' intelligence is over-struck with greed, power struggles...
Just because you can manipulate your environment better than any other species, doesn't make you intelligent.
Yes, ranting on isn't very intelligent either, but my pants are too tight and my socks don't match.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Tuesday May 03 2016, @09:08PM
But if we were truly intelligent, we would have passed on WW1, WW2, religion (intelligent people wouldn't have even thought of the Spanish Inquisition, let alone EXPECTED it), the atomic bomb, NSA crap, etc....
What exactly is the objective scale you're using to measure the 'intelligent' responses of stimuli?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday May 04 2016, @03:59PM
But if we were truly intelligent, we would have passed on WW1, WW2, religion...
The only intelligent take on religion is agnosticism, unless you've experienced God personally. Guess what? Many of us have. Saying "God can't possibly exist" is abjectly UNintelligent.
I find it hilarious that people are positive God doesn't exist because of lack of proof, but are equally positive that this isn't the only planet with life. Drake equation? It lacks WAY too many variables, including the most important one: what does it take for life to start? I tend to think there probably is life elsewhere, but am agnostic on the subject until someone can show how something dead can come alive. I was a religious agnostic until the car wreck and I stood at the gates of death and was turned away. Oh, and there shouldn't even be life here. [thebitbag.com]
BTW, the Spanish inquisitors were after wealth and power, as are many who claim to be Christians. "Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing" and know that some of those wolves stand on pulpits.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday May 04 2016, @04:47PM
Yeah, sorry: my 'definition' of 'religion' is more of the 'organized religion' thinking: that the powers above try to keep the flock in their 'power' and keep the money coming in while they do 'unethical/unreligious' things, etc.
To me, if you believe in God, why do you need to join an organized religion. Just talk to Him/Her/Hir/Shim/It/Bob.
Why do you need someone else telling you how to think: think for yourself, commune with God yourself.
No, i don't believe in a 'God', but still try to live my life in the way the bible i grew up with wants me to: be a good person. Not because I have the fear of God, or the fear i won't go to a 'heaven', but because that's how i want to live, how i want others to know me, how i want my children to see me, blah, blah.
It's who i am: and others should believe what they believe... just don't push it on me.
I have seen to many people who talk the talk real well, but don't walk the walk as well as I do (yes, i'm looking especially at you, Steve!!!)
"I've been saved by Jesus: i just hope my wife doesn't find out about my girlfriend"...and "I'm Father So-and-so, let me teach your son how to get the 'spirit' inside him, heh-heh-heh"...shit like that...
Too many sheeple gather under the steeple, hoping they'll be saved if they sing loud enough and give the church enough money.
Bleh... rant...
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday May 05 2016, @04:28PM
To me, if you believe in God, why do you need to join an organized religion
You don't if you're a Christian, but I don't know about other religions. I do know the Bhuddists in Thailand are required to be a priest for a year. But for Christians, Christ said "Whenever two or three are gathered in my name, I will be there." I personally won't attend any church where the preacher wears a necktie, the symbol of wealth and power. It's Satan's leash, symbol of everything Jesus warned about.
be a good person. Not because I have the fear of God, or the fear i won't go to a 'heaven', but because that's how i want to live, how i want others to know me, how i want my children to see me, blah, blah.
That's good. Another kind of church I refuse to enter is one where the preacher preaches fear, when the Bible actually says that for Christians, judgement day is payday. Your sins are forgiven and you are judged on the good you do in the world.
It's who i am: and others should believe what they believe... just don't push it on me.
Christians aren't supposed to push their religion, only plant seeds.
I have seen to many people who talk the talk real well, but don't walk the walk as well as I do (yes, i'm looking especially at you, Steve!!!)
I'm far from perfect, but I do try.
Too many sheeple gather under the steeple, hoping they'll be saved if they sing loud enough and give the church enough money.
I couldn't agree more. If they believe they should read the book.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 04 2016, @03:31AM
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.
-- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 04 2016, @10:24AM
Oh, that boring, self-deprecating, stupid trope...again.
What this demonstrates is the power of human language. So powerful that even animals can understand.
If animals were so smart, they would have developed an *easy to understand* communicative method. They haven't invented diddly squat.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @05:58PM
Dolphin 1: Hey dude, let's open this canister. I'll pull this string and you pull the other one. Ready?
Dolphin 2: You want us to work together? That's fucking socialism, you Nazi.
Dolphin 1: Calm down, we get this free food.
Dolphin 2: Your entitlement attitude is destroying America.
Dolphin 1: Don't taze me bro.
Dolphin 2: You can pry it out my cold dead fingers! DIE DIE DIE.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday May 03 2016, @07:55PM
You *could* taze them, apparently (start reading at 'This is how you break down the wall' [rifters.com]).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @08:34PM
Dolphin Trump: Hey, lets get the humans to build us a food delivery chute, and then get them to build a wall to keep themselves away from it. We just have to entertain them with tricks and banter, which I'm excellent at.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @07:36PM
Perhaps we should begin to test for high performing dolphins to selectively breed for intelligence. If we have some examples of prolific performers it is evident that the species is advancing that direction on its own.
Ocean is already fucked, what do we have to lose?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 04 2016, @02:02AM
Wild dolphins commit suicide when kept. Kept dolphins, well, how smart do you think you'd get if you live inside a small tank all your life?
Anyway, the military trains dolphins to detect mines and kill scuba divers. They probably have a breeding program. Dolphins masturbate and gang rape each other so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a pair to breed.
(Score: 3, Funny) by meisterister on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:46PM
Looks like dolphins are still a far way from competing with us. After all, we use language to create problems.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday May 04 2016, @09:35AM
OK so to follow up, take one of the dolphins who has cracked the puzzle, and pair him up with one that hasn't. See if he is able to tell his buddy "hey, pull on that rope there for some free mackerel".