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The dolphin, whose name translates (from the Greek delphis
and the Latin dolfinus) into "fish with womb," is indeed a marine mammal.
Its seemingly perpetual smile plus its playful ways have made it a favorite among humans. Wikipedia reports that dolphins are "often
regarded as one of Earth's most intelligent animals…" They
are social and altruistic (both with each other and with other species such as whales and humans).
The males can sometimes be aggressive due to "disputes between companions and competition for females" (sound familiar?).
Dolphins communicate with one another "using a variety of clicks, whistle-like sounds and other vocalizations." The question is: Can
humans and dolphins learn to "talk" together?
Megan Gannon of Live
Science explains that if "humans ever hope to talk to animals, dolphins might represent our best bet." Nevertheless, despite decades of trying, scientists have still have not been able to
crack the dolphin code.
Back in the 1960s, neuroscientist John Lilly and his assistant Margaret Howe conducted some creative (to put it mildly) experiments along these lines. For
the past almost-three decades, Denise Herzing of Florida Atlantic University has spent "five months each summer studying a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas," focusing upon their various vocalizations.
Herzing and her team "created an underwater keyboard with four symbols that each corresponded to a specific sound and a toy." The dolphins learned to request particular toys via the use of this keyboard. Herzing et al. are now in the process of developing a wearable keyboard called CHAT ("Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry") which will hopefully allow humans and dolphins to begin "chatting."
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin
http://news.yahoo.com/could-humans-dolphins-ever-talk-other-123927062.html
Copyright June 10, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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