Dolphins, believed to be the most intelligent creatures after humans, may actually be no brighter than other animals – and the playful creatures may even conceal a darker, aggressive side, new research suggests.
Humans have been beguiled, partly by the animals’ permanent apparent smile, but also by decades of flawed research biased towards proving they have near-human qualities, according to new research.
“Dolphins are fascinating in their own right, but in terms of intelligence they are nowhere near as special as they have been portrayed,” said Zoologist Justin Gregg, a researcher with the Dolphin Communication Project in the US.
Gregg, who also co-edits the journal Aquatic Mammals, believes that, although dolphins show many apparently complex behaviours, such as living in large social groups, empathy and communicating with peers, such abilities can be found in many other species including chickens, pigs and bears, and so do not make dolphins special, ‘The Times’ reported.
US neuroscientist John Lilly first proposed the idea that dolphins were particularly intelligent in the 1950s after his experiments concluded the animals were trying to communicate with researchers.
Last year, scientists told the American Association for the Advancement of Science that dolphins should be reclassified as non-human “persons”, and killing them treated as murder. Gregg, author of the book ‘Are Dolphins Really Smart?’ to be out this month, believes researchers made a series of mistakes, of which the most fundamental are to assume that dolphins’ large brains imply great intelligence, and that complex vocalisations are a sign of a language.
“Dolphin communication does not seem to be that special. They do have a unique signature whistle, and it’s possible they could use this to communicate, but they don’t seem to have alarm calls or food calls – in that respect they are less sophisticated than chickens,” Gregg said.
Researchers have also debunked the myth of dolphins as peace-loving creatures living in harmonious societies.
Scientists at the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University in Scotland have recorded how bottlenose dolphins often kill the smaller harbour porpoises they encounter, although never to eat.
In Western Australia’s Shark Bay, gangs of male dolphins have been observed working together to isolate females and forcibly mate with them. (PTI)