Dolphins are the most intelligent creatures created by nature. For many centuries, their behavior has attracted and excited the imagination of people. Meeting with them can cause a storm of enthusiastic emotions. Myths and legends were written about their lives. And the extraordinary abilities of these animals remain a mystery at the present time.
For centuries
Dolphins appeared on Earth more than 70 million years ago. Their origin, which explains the developed mental abilities, is shrouded in legends and secrets no less than the appearance of man. People learn how dolphins' brains work, their intelligence and habits over the centuries. However, these animals were able to study us much better. For a short period they lived on land, which came out of a reservoir, and then returned back to the water. Scientists cannot explain this phenomenon until now. However, there is an assumption that when people find a common language with dolphins, they will be able to tell us a lot about their lives. However, this is unlikely.
Fancy Dolphin Brain Facts
Scientists of many countries of the world are haunted by the brain of a dolphin. They try to understand how it works. These amazing animals with social skills, learning and understanding human behavior are certainly different from other representatives of the fauna. Their brain has undergone unprecedented development over the past several tens of millions of years. One of the differences between the brain of a dolphin and a human is that the animals learned to turn off one half of the brain so that it could relax. These are the only representatives of the animal world, naturally, except for people who are able to communicate in their own language, through a complex combination of various sounds and clicks. Scientists have discovered that dolphins have the basics of logical thinking, that is, the highest form of development of the mind. And this amazing fact was revealed in mammals. These animals are able to solve complex puzzles, find answers to difficult questions and adjust their behavior to the circumstances posed by humans.
The brain of a dolphin is larger than the human brain, so the brain of an adult animal weighs 1 kg 700 g, and the human brain - 300 g less. Twist in a person is half that of a dolphin. Researchers have collected materials about the presence of these representatives not only self-awareness, but also social consciousness. The number of nerve cells also exceeds their number in humans. Animals are capable of echolocation. The acoustic lens, which is located on the head, focuses sound waves (ultrasound), with the help of them the dolphin, as it were, senses the existing underwater objects and determines their shape. The next amazing ability is the ability to sense magnetic poles. Dolphins have special magnetic crystals in their brains to help them navigate the surface of the ocean.
Dolphin and human brain: a comparison
Dolphin is certainly the most intelligent and intelligent animal on the planet. Scientists have found that at the moment of passage through the nasal canals of air, sound signals are formed in them. These amazing animals for communication use:
- about sixty basic sound signals;
- up to five levels of their various combinations;
- the so-called vocabulary of about 14 thousand signals.
The average vocabulary of a person is the same amount. In everyday life, he manages 800–1000 different words. In the case of translating a dolphin signal into a human, it will most likely resemble a hieroglyph meaning a word and an action. The ability of animals to communicate is considered a sensation. The difference between the human brain and the dolphin is in the number of convolutions, the latter has twice as many.
Dolphin DNA study
Australian scientists after comparing the DNA of humans and dolphins concluded that these mammals are our closest relatives. As a result, the legend that they are the descendants of the people who lived in Atlantis was developed. And after these highly civilized inhabitants left for the ocean, no one knows for sure what happened to them. According to legend, they turned into inhabitants of the deep sea and preserved their love for a person in memory of a past life. Adherents of this beautiful legend claim that since there is a similarity between the intellect, the structures of the human DNA and brain, and the dolphin, people with them have a common beginning.
Dolphin abilities
Ichthyologists, who study the phenomenal abilities of dolphins, claim that they occupy an honorable second place in terms of intelligence after a person. But the apes - only the fourth.
If we compare the human brain and the dolphin, then the brain weight in an adult animal is from 1.5 to 1.7 kg, which is certainly more than in humans. And, for example, the ratio of body and brain sizes in chimpanzees is significantly lower than in dolphins. A complex chain of relationships and collective organization indicates the existence of a special civilization of these living creatures.
Scientist Test Results
When comparing the weight of the human brain and the dolphin and their body mass, the ratio will be the same. During tests on the level of mental development, these creatures showed amazing results. It turned out that only nineteen points dolphins scored fewer points than people. Scientists concluded that animals are able to understand human thinking and have good analytical skills.
One well-known neurophysiologist in scientific circles who has been working with dolphins for quite some time has made the following conclusion - that it is these representatives of the animal world that will be the first to establish contact, and consciously, with human civilization. And it will help dolphins in communication that they have an individual highly developed language, excellent memory and mental abilities that allow you to transfer accumulated knowledge and experience from generation to generation. Another suggestion of scientists is that if these animals had limbs developed differently, they would be able to write, in view of the similarity of their mind to the human.
Some features
During a disaster that has caught in the sea or ocean, dolphins save a person. Eyewitnesses tell how animals drove predator sharks away for several hours, giving no chance to get close to a person, and then helped them swim to the shore. It is this attitude that is typical for adults to their offspring. Perhaps they perceive a person in distress as their cub. The superiority of these representatives of the animal world to other inhabitants lies in their monogamy. Unlike other animals that look for a mate only for mating and easily change partners, dolphins choose them for life. They live in large families, along with old people and children, taking care of them throughout their entire life period. Thus, the absence of polygamy, which is present in almost all inhabitants of the fauna, indicates their higher stage of development.
Subtle Dolphin Hearing
The uniqueness lies in the fact that the ability to reproduce a special sound with the help of a sound wave helps to navigate in the vast expanses of water at great distances. Dolphins emit a so-called click, which, upon encountering an obstacle, returns to them already in the form of a special impulse propagating through the water with great speed.
The closer the item is, the faster the echo will return. Developed intelligence allows them to estimate the distance to an obstacle with maximum accuracy. In addition, the dolphin transmits the received information over great distances to its fellows with the help of special signals. Each animal has its own name, and according to the characteristic intonations of the voice, they are able to distinguish all members of the pack.
Language development and onomatopoeia
Using a special language, animals can explain to their brethren what they need to do to get food. For example, during training sessions in the dolphinarium, they share information about which pedal must be pressed so that the fish falls out. The human brain and the dolphin is capable of reproducing sounds. The ability to imitate them in the latter is manifested in the ability of animals to accurately copy and transmit various sounds: the sound of wheels, the singing of birds. The uniqueness lies in the fact that in the recording it is impossible to distinguish where is the real sound, and where is imitation. In addition, dolphins are able to copy human speech, however, not with such accuracy.
Dolphins - Teachers and Researchers
They with interest teach their relatives the knowledge and skills that they possess. Dolphins perceive information out of curiosity to learn new things, and not under duress. There are cases when an animal that lived in a dolphinarium for a long time helped trainers to train their brothers in various tricks. Unlike other inhabitants of the seabed, they find a balance between curiosity and danger. During surveys of new territories, a sea sponge is put on the nose, which can protect them from all sorts of troubles that meet on the way.
Feelings and mind of the animal
It is proved that the brain of a dolphin, like a person, is able to express feelings. These animals may experience resentment, jealousy, love, and they will be quite accessible to express these feelings. For example, if during training aggression was applied to an animal or pain was inflicted, the dolphin will demonstrate indignation and will never work with such a person.
This just confirms that they have a long-term memory. Animals have a mind close to human. For example, to extract a small fish from a rocky gap, they clamp a stick between their teeth and try to push the prey out with its help. The ability to use improvised tools resembles the development of a person when he first began to use tools.
