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uit: Grimm, D. (2010) Is a Dolphin a Person?. Science, 327(5969), 1070-1071. February 21, 2010Are dolphins as smart as people? And if so, shouldn't we be treating them a bit better than we do now? Those were the topics of discussion at a session on the ethical and policy implications of dolphin intelligence here today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (which publishes ScienceNOW).
First up, just how smart are dolphins? Researchers have been exploring the question for 3 decades, and the answer, it turns out, is pretty darn smart....
Dolphins also have a very complex neocortex, the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving, self-awareness, and variety of other traits we associate with human intelligence. And researchers have found gangly neurons called Von Economo neurons, which in humans and apes have been linked to emotions, social cognition, and even theory of mindthe ability to sense what others are thinking. Overall, said Marino, "dolphin brains stack up quite well to human brains."...
Reiss has been working with dolphins in aquariums for most of her life, and she says their social intelligence rivals that of the great apes. They can recognize themselves in a mirror (a feat most animals fail atand a sign of self-awareness). They can understand complex gesture "sentences" from humans. And they can learn to poke an underwater keyboard to request toys to play with. "Much of their learning is similar to what we see with young children," says Reiss. ...
Thomas White, a philosopher at Loyola Marymount University in Redondo Beach, California, made the argument that dolphins aren't merely like peoplethey may actually be people, or at least, "nonhuman persons," as he described them. Defining exactly what it means to be a person is difficult, White said, but dolphins seem to fit the checklist many philosophers agree on: They're alive, aware of their environment, and have emotionsthose ones are easy. But they also seem to have personalities, exhibit self-controlled behavior, and treat others appropriately, even ethically. That combination of traits is harder to come by in the animal world. When it comes to what defines a person, said White, "dolphins fit the bill."
But before the researchers take their findings too far, experts caution that the scientific case for dolphin intelligence is based on relatively little data. "It's a pretty story, but it's very speculative," says Jacopo Annese, a neuroanatomist at the University of California, San Diego. Despite a long history of research, scientists still don't agree on the roots of intelligence in the human brain, he says. "We don't know, even in humans, what is the relationship between brain structure and function, let alone intelligence." Far less is known about dolphins, Annese says. ...
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