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Are Dolphins Really Smart?: The Mammal Behind the Myth
How intelligent are dolphins? Is their communication system really as complex as human language? And are they as friendly and peaceful as they are made out to be?
Justin Gregg weighs up the claims made about dolphin intelligence and separates scientific fact from fiction. He presents the results of the latest research in animal behaviour, and puts our knowledge about them into perspective with comparisons to scientific studies of other animals, especially the crow family and great apes. He gives fascinating accounts of the challenges of testing what an animal with flippers and no facial expressions might actually be thinking. Gregg's evidence-based approach creates a comprehensive and up-to-date study of this fascinating animal which will appeal to all those intrigued by dolphin behaviour.
Justin Gregg weighs up the claims made about dolphin intelligence and separates scientific fact from fiction. He presents the results of the latest research in animal behaviour, and puts our knowledge about them into perspective with comparisons to scientific studies of other animals, especially the crow family and great apes. He gives fascinating accounts of the challenges of testing what an animal with flippers and no facial expressions might actually be thinking. Gregg's evidence-based approach creates a comprehensive and up-to-date study of this fascinating animal which will appeal to all those intrigued by dolphin behaviour.
310 pages, Hardcover
First published September 26, 2013
11 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
About the author
Justin Gregg
6 books101 followersJustin Gregg is science writer and author of the books Twenty-Two Fantastical Facts about Dolphins and Are Dolphins Really Smart? He writes about animal behavior and cognition, with articles and blog posts appearing in The Wall Street Journal, Aeon Magazine, Scientific American, BBC Focus, Slate, Diver Magazine, and other print and online publications. Justin produced and hosted the dolphin science podcast The Dolphin Pod, and has provided voices for characters in a number of animated films. Justin regularly lectures on topics related to animal/dolphin cognition. He also blogs about science and humor/nerd/pop culture topics on his personal blog at justingregg.com
Justin received his PhD from the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in Dublin Ireland in 2008 having studied dolphin social cognition. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at St. Francis Xavier University, and a Senior Research Associate with the Dolphin Communication Project. Justin has a research focus in dolphin social cognition, and a background/interest in linguistic and the evolution of language. A list of Justin’s academic publications can be found at this link.
Follow Justin on twitter: @justindgregg
Justin received his PhD from the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in Dublin Ireland in 2008 having studied dolphin social cognition. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at St. Francis Xavier University, and a Senior Research Associate with the Dolphin Communication Project. Justin has a research focus in dolphin social cognition, and a background/interest in linguistic and the evolution of language. A list of Justin’s academic publications can be found at this link.
Follow Justin on twitter: @justindgregg
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 17, 2021
Unlike Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? and other animal cognition books I've read, this one recognizes that what most people really care about is intelligence as defined as "a measure of how closely a thing's behavior resembles the behavior of an adult human."
The prime example of how that metric is relevant is that people have gotten all excited that sheep "are extremely good at recognizing faces" whereas we-all go ho-hum when we learn that ants are extremely good at recognizing individuals by scent. Which animals are smarter, really? Who knows? Now that we've discovered that even certain insects use tools, tool-use is not considered (by some) a measure of smartness.
So, Gregg admits the necessity of stepping back from scientist mode just for a bit, and looking at the question of intelligence from popular interest mode. After all, it's popular interest that funds studies, that buys books like this, that did buy Lilly's book, and that fights to protect cetaceans' rights. (Did you know that a lawsuit has been brought to get aquariums to stop using killer whales to perform on the grounds of *slavery*?)
So, all that in the first chapter. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book, which promises to very methodically evaluate all the major claims (in clusters) that have been made for dolphins' intelligence.
---
p. 60
Turns out that there's a lot of "yes, but..." and "no, but..." and "that's being studied as we speak." And a lot of nuances. Given that the book is copyright 2013, it's relatively old. So, admirable in its thoroughness and methodology, but not, perhaps, as helpful as one intrigued by the title would want. For example, the mirror self-awareness test: does it measure self-awareness, or just self-recognition? That is to say, just because a being knows the image in the mirror is not a different being, does that imply any sort of ability to reflect, or introspect? Examples of Michael the Gorilla and of Kenyan children are particularly revelatory.
---
Finally done.
I suggest that you read this as an ebook if you can; the paper of the hardcover is not opaque and the font is small.
I placed several more bookdarts:
When chimps or dolphins use language symbols it is quite probable that "these core cognitive skills are used in domains other than language or communication, but can be co-opted to meet the demands of novel experimental situations."
"[S]cientists are open-minded when it comes to being swayed by evidence--a trait not usually associated with a true believer."
"[I]t would be more logical to speak about cracking the prairie dog code than the dolphin code." Because the system they use to communicate more closely resembles, in many key ways, human natural language.
"There are, after all, no vegetarian dolphins."
"Female killer whales go through menopause in their 30s or 40s but remain active in their social groups until their 80s or 90s. It's extremely rare in the animal kingdom for females to go through menopause... but a long term study of killer whales from British Columbia has shown that these killer whale grandmothers continued to fulfill a vital role in the group even without the ability to reproduce."
"If I may take off my scientist's hat for the moment and be allowed one final thought that is informed by my heart and not my head, it is this: I think that it is time we stop judging dolphins and other animals based on whether their external behavior or their inner lives resembles that of human beings.... we might open our minds and our hearts to the fact that many other species--from sharks to earwigs to rats--lead equally as wondrous and worthy lives."
So, in other words, never mind that the evidence says dolphins aren't ready for "personhood." What's more important is that every animal is worthy of ethical treatment.
The prime example of how that metric is relevant is that people have gotten all excited that sheep "are extremely good at recognizing faces" whereas we-all go ho-hum when we learn that ants are extremely good at recognizing individuals by scent. Which animals are smarter, really? Who knows? Now that we've discovered that even certain insects use tools, tool-use is not considered (by some) a measure of smartness.
So, Gregg admits the necessity of stepping back from scientist mode just for a bit, and looking at the question of intelligence from popular interest mode. After all, it's popular interest that funds studies, that buys books like this, that did buy Lilly's book, and that fights to protect cetaceans' rights. (Did you know that a lawsuit has been brought to get aquariums to stop using killer whales to perform on the grounds of *slavery*?)
So, all that in the first chapter. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book, which promises to very methodically evaluate all the major claims (in clusters) that have been made for dolphins' intelligence.
---
p. 60
Turns out that there's a lot of "yes, but..." and "no, but..." and "that's being studied as we speak." And a lot of nuances. Given that the book is copyright 2013, it's relatively old. So, admirable in its thoroughness and methodology, but not, perhaps, as helpful as one intrigued by the title would want. For example, the mirror self-awareness test: does it measure self-awareness, or just self-recognition? That is to say, just because a being knows the image in the mirror is not a different being, does that imply any sort of ability to reflect, or introspect? Examples of Michael the Gorilla and of Kenyan children are particularly revelatory.
---
Finally done.
I suggest that you read this as an ebook if you can; the paper of the hardcover is not opaque and the font is small.
I placed several more bookdarts:
When chimps or dolphins use language symbols it is quite probable that "these core cognitive skills are used in domains other than language or communication, but can be co-opted to meet the demands of novel experimental situations."
"[S]cientists are open-minded when it comes to being swayed by evidence--a trait not usually associated with a true believer."
"[I]t would be more logical to speak about cracking the prairie dog code than the dolphin code." Because the system they use to communicate more closely resembles, in many key ways, human natural language.
"There are, after all, no vegetarian dolphins."
"Female killer whales go through menopause in their 30s or 40s but remain active in their social groups until their 80s or 90s. It's extremely rare in the animal kingdom for females to go through menopause... but a long term study of killer whales from British Columbia has shown that these killer whale grandmothers continued to fulfill a vital role in the group even without the ability to reproduce."
"If I may take off my scientist's hat for the moment and be allowed one final thought that is informed by my heart and not my head, it is this: I think that it is time we stop judging dolphins and other animals based on whether their external behavior or their inner lives resembles that of human beings.... we might open our minds and our hearts to the fact that many other species--from sharks to earwigs to rats--lead equally as wondrous and worthy lives."
So, in other words, never mind that the evidence says dolphins aren't ready for "personhood." What's more important is that every animal is worthy of ethical treatment.
July 4, 2017
Define intelligence: human being tend to put basic rules and concepts to difine intelligence. They classificated organisms according to this strict classification. Why some people will concider the face recognition like more intelligent than the scene recognition? First technic Homo Sapiens use it , the second technic ants use it in their environment.
If we want to make a comparison between animals using an argument that all organisms are intelligence : we can say that if we put a mice/rat/ goldenfish/....in a lab field (box-office aquarium ) eventually they will try to jump outside their box to enlarge their environment. Dolphin will now do that.
Neither the brain size nor the EQ nor the size of the cerebal cortex, not even the numbers of the neurons will determine the intelligence rate in any organisms
It is the function if the VEN's the spindle cells the speedy transfer the information between the many cortical area
Dolphins have both simple and complex emotions. Simple: fear, angry. .... complex : pleasure, jealousy, compation, embarrassment, pleasure. ....
Human consider to be the expert language manipulators, our understanding to animals intelligence often involves testing for their ability to use language -like artificial symbols system.
Dolphins have the ability to categorize objects, keep a running count, the ability to discriminate between painting by Van Gogh and Chagall with the same accuracy as college undergraduate students. They can discriminat between good and bad art painting. It means they have they have learned the concept of beauty. They can use tools to say yes from no
There is a huge debate whither or not dolphins have a language or not. Scientists declined that to be able to have a language you should have the ability to express your ideas , you should be able to transfer your information to the listener whither the action accured in the past, present or it may happen in the future. The ability to learn and create new ideas.
What dolphins and other animal species have is an animal communication. What a human have is a language
Dolphins can listen to each other's vocalizations / they can determine the distance in the same pool where the other Dolphin is located in order to press the right paddle
We don't know enough so far about either human language or animal communication to make meaningful comparison. Best thing that scholar can do is dimly provide an opinion
If we want to make a comparison between animals using an argument that all organisms are intelligence : we can say that if we put a mice/rat/ goldenfish/....in a lab field (box-office aquarium ) eventually they will try to jump outside their box to enlarge their environment. Dolphin will now do that.
Neither the brain size nor the EQ nor the size of the cerebal cortex, not even the numbers of the neurons will determine the intelligence rate in any organisms
It is the function if the VEN's the spindle cells the speedy transfer the information between the many cortical area
Dolphins have both simple and complex emotions. Simple: fear, angry. .... complex : pleasure, jealousy, compation, embarrassment, pleasure. ....
Human consider to be the expert language manipulators, our understanding to animals intelligence often involves testing for their ability to use language -like artificial symbols system.
Dolphins have the ability to categorize objects, keep a running count, the ability to discriminate between painting by Van Gogh and Chagall with the same accuracy as college undergraduate students. They can discriminat between good and bad art painting. It means they have they have learned the concept of beauty. They can use tools to say yes from no
There is a huge debate whither or not dolphins have a language or not. Scientists declined that to be able to have a language you should have the ability to express your ideas , you should be able to transfer your information to the listener whither the action accured in the past, present or it may happen in the future. The ability to learn and create new ideas.
What dolphins and other animal species have is an animal communication. What a human have is a language
Dolphins can listen to each other's vocalizations / they can determine the distance in the same pool where the other Dolphin is located in order to press the right paddle
We don't know enough so far about either human language or animal communication to make meaningful comparison. Best thing that scholar can do is dimly provide an opinion
February 12, 2021
This is another book I’ve had on my shelf for years and I can’t believe I waited until now to read it. I am disappointed in myself.
Anyways, I made a prediction at the beginning of this book to the question “Are dolphins really smart?” and my prediction was a big fat “I don’t know” from the author... and I was right. Most of the science on Dolphin cognition is inconclusive and of the tests performed on dolphins are 1) A small number of test subjects (e.g 2 dolphins for the MSR) and 2) Usually only performed on one species of Dolphin (turisops truncatus or the Common bottlenose Dolphin) since they are commonly kept in captivity. We just don’t know enough to truly pin down for example, self-awareness using the mirror self-recognition test because this only shows us that they have some sense of body awareness, and not if they are aware of their own thoughts. The only way, (unless science finds a bullet proof experiment) we can truly know what goes inside the mind of the Dolphin is if we are able to peek inside or actually be a dolphin. In the world of different animals, many perform similarly to the dolphin in many tasks and some out perform the dolphin. Leading to the conclusion that dolphins are amazing animals but in the grand scheme of things they really aren’t that special,and are on the same cognitive level as chimpanzees.
Overall I think this is a wonderful book about Dolphin intelligence myths and I think people should read this book before they dive into any other book about Dolphin cognition. I will be referring back to this book a lot I think. 🐬🐬🐬
Anyways, I made a prediction at the beginning of this book to the question “Are dolphins really smart?” and my prediction was a big fat “I don’t know” from the author... and I was right. Most of the science on Dolphin cognition is inconclusive and of the tests performed on dolphins are 1) A small number of test subjects (e.g 2 dolphins for the MSR) and 2) Usually only performed on one species of Dolphin (turisops truncatus or the Common bottlenose Dolphin) since they are commonly kept in captivity. We just don’t know enough to truly pin down for example, self-awareness using the mirror self-recognition test because this only shows us that they have some sense of body awareness, and not if they are aware of their own thoughts. The only way, (unless science finds a bullet proof experiment) we can truly know what goes inside the mind of the Dolphin is if we are able to peek inside or actually be a dolphin. In the world of different animals, many perform similarly to the dolphin in many tasks and some out perform the dolphin. Leading to the conclusion that dolphins are amazing animals but in the grand scheme of things they really aren’t that special,and are on the same cognitive level as chimpanzees.
Overall I think this is a wonderful book about Dolphin intelligence myths and I think people should read this book before they dive into any other book about Dolphin cognition. I will be referring back to this book a lot I think. 🐬🐬🐬
July 29, 2020
This book talks about researches scientists done throughout the years to see if dolphins are really the second most intelligent animal on the Earth. In this book, scientists conducted a lot of tests to research about their brain and other body structures that relates to intelligence level in human beings. Scientists also compare the dolphins with different type of animals to see if they are superior. I enjoy reading the book as I learnt that we should have a scientific spirit. We should try our best and even when the research data can't help us determine the conclusion, we should learn from it.
July 28, 2020
Are Dolphins Really Smart? presents a thorough review of the research on dolphin intelligence with a pinch of myth-busting. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2017...
March 7, 2022
I liked how this book talks about other animals and not just dolphins, but it too technical for me.
May 15, 2020
Very scientific read about many forms of dolphins with an emphasis on how they communicate. Very scholarly and convincing data with some extremely interesting theories.
February 22, 2014
Depending on how much baggage you put in "really," the answer is ...
No!
Gregg says, speaking of baggage, you have to start by ditching John C. Lilly, above all the idea of "dolphinese."
He then says that we need to be careful not to anthropomorphize how we define "intelligence," a definition of which, he notes, is problematic enough when confined just to homo sapiens.
Those two caveats in place, his overall answer is that dolphins are no smarter than chimps. (Nor are they nearly as peaceful as Lilly's myth-making, either.)
No!
Gregg says, speaking of baggage, you have to start by ditching John C. Lilly, above all the idea of "dolphinese."
He then says that we need to be careful not to anthropomorphize how we define "intelligence," a definition of which, he notes, is problematic enough when confined just to homo sapiens.
Those two caveats in place, his overall answer is that dolphins are no smarter than chimps. (Nor are they nearly as peaceful as Lilly's myth-making, either.)
August 19, 2014
This was good read. This very well could have been Gregg's thesis for a graduate/doctoral program. A little boring a times, but great use of scientific writing format and evidence for his conclusions. It involved a lot of comparative anatomy and behavioralism (which I love!). Worth picking up if you like dolphins and scientific papers.
March 9, 2015
An excellent read it gets you thinking about intelligence in a whole new way.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews