Dolphins undy sign language

naisho

naisho

Forum Disorders M.D.,Ph.D
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
6,433
Reaction score
12
:shock: Can you believe it?

I saw a documentary recommended by a friend and it talked about dolphins, (The Cove), in there I learned that they teach the dolphins commands in ASL and that dolphins can understand about 90 words. I thought that was cool.

Why dolphins are deep thinkers | Science | The Guardian
To keep track of the many different relationships within a large social group, it helps to have an efficient communication system. Dolphins use a variety of clicks and whistles to keep in touch. Some species have a signature whistle, which, like a name, is a unique sound that allows other dolphins to identify it. Dolphins also communicate using touch and body postures. By human definition, there is currently no evidence that dolphins have a language. But we've barely begun to record all their sounds and body signals let alone try to decipher them. At Kewalo Basin Marine Laboratory in Hawaii, Lou Herman and his team set about testing a dolphin's ability to comprehend our language. They developed a sign language to communicate with the dolphins, and the results were remarkable. Not only do the dolphins understand the meaning of individual words, they also understand the significance of word order in a sentence. (One of their star dolphins, Akeakamai, has learned a vocabulary of more than 60 words and can understand more than 2,000 sentences.) Particularly impressive is the dolphins' relaxed attitude when new sentences are introduced. For example, the dolphins generally responded correctly to "touch the frisbee with your tail and then jump over it". This has the characteristics of true understanding, not rigid training.
Click to expand...
 
If the implications are any example, humans may not be the only animal with a language.
 
Do you know that when dolphins sleep, only 1/2 of their brain sleeps at a time, while the other remains fully awake?
 
There are now studies done that indicate that parts of the brain doze off while we are awake particularly if we put off sleep. I like to think that explains all the stupid things we say or do at times ... it's not our fault, that particular part of our brain was just asleep at the time! :zzz: haha
 
Journey said:
There are now studies done that indicate that parts of the brain doze off while we are awake particularly if we put off sleep. I like to think that explains all the stupid things we say or do at times ... it's not our fault, that particular part of our brain was just asleep at the time! :zzz: haha
Click to expand...

Actually, that has been known for some time. Different areas of the brain are suppressed and activated depending upon where we are in the sleep cycle. But we do not have one hemisphere that stays in a wakefulness cycle while the other is in a sleep cycle in the way dolphins do.
 
Oh, ok, I didn't know it has been known for a long time. I read about in National Geographic News this past spring, they called it a 'new' study (done on rats not humans). Only reason I remember it is because it seemed to explain a lot of "duh" moments we have during the daytime lol.
 
Last edited:
I found a video. It's not subtitled, but they are signing to the dolphin, Akeakamai. In one of them she signs "Phoenix, pipe fetch" (take pipe to Phoenix, who is the other dolphin). It's around 1:29 to 1:50

 
deafskeptic said:
If the implications are any example, humans may not be the only animal with a language.
Click to expand...

Humans already aren't the only one with a language. Koko the gorilla, Washoe, the chimpaneze and all the others do communicate via sign language.
 
Buffalo said:
Humans already aren't the only one with a language. Koko the gorilla, Washoe, the chimpaneze and all the others do communicate via sign language.
Click to expand...

But can they use this language with other gorillas? I have reason to believe that dolphins may have a language of their own that they can use with other dolphins.
 
Wouldn't it be more fair for dolphins to use a communications board so they could participate too?

They don't have the ability to sign back.
 
deafskeptic said:
But can they use this language with other gorillas? I have reason to believe that dolphins may have a language of their own that they can use with other dolphins.
Click to expand...

Yes.

There is considerable evidence that apes have signed to one another spontaneously,
without trainers present. Like many of the apes studied, gorillas Koko and Michael have been
observed signing to one another.5 At Central Washington University, Loulis, the baby
chimpanzee placed in the care of the signing chimpanzee, Washoe, mastered nearly fifty signs in
American Sign Language without help from humans. “Interestingly,” wrote researcher Robin
Fouts, “Loulis did not pick up any of the seven signs that we [humans] used around him. He
learned only from Washoe and [another chimp] Ally."
Click to expand...
http://www.msubillings.edu/asc/resources/writing/PDF-WritingLab/Turabian Style Sample Paper.pdf

More on Koko: The Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org
 
Back
Top