Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics

Cetacean intelligence denotes the cognitive capabilities of the cetacean order of mammals and especially the various species of dolphin. Cetaceans include whales, porpoises and dolphins and while all are broadly considered intelligent, dolphins have generated the most attention as their capabilities appear to be of a different order than that of their relatives. Conclusions about the nature and magnitude of dolphin intelligence have not yet been reached. There are many different species of dolphin (see the cetacea articl ...

Including:

• Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics
• Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains
• Cetacean intelligence - Behavior
• Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics
• Cetacean intelligence - Complex play
• Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior
• Cetacean intelligence - Communication
• Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness
• Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

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While there is no physiological characteristic that unequivocally indicates intelligence in animals, scientists naturally focus on brain size and structure. Absolute brain size does appear to correlate to intelligence[1] but it is a crude measure given that animal species vary in size over many orders of magnitude. Brain-to-body ratio is considered a more precise benchmark, particularly for species that are otherwise similar in size (the larger the species the smaller the brain-to-body mass ratios as a general rule). Comparing a land based s ...

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Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics

See also animal behavior for a broader view. Researching the behavior of dolphins in the wild is a difficult task. However, several researchers have examined the social behavior of dolphins and tried to extract from an understanding of the level of communication between individuals, which in turn is interpreted as a measure of intelligence. Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics. Dolphin group sizes vary quite dramatically. Older male Orca tend to lead quite solitary lives but this is t ...

See also:

Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Behavior

The area of the comparative cognition (see animal cognition) of the dolphin is one of the primary avenue of the investigation of cetacean intelligence. Examples of cognitive abilities investigated in the dolphin include concept formation, sensory skills, and the use of mental representation of dolphins. Such research has been ongoing since the late 70s through the present, and include the specific areas of: acoustic mimicry, behavioral mimicry (inter- and intra-specific), comprehension of novel sequences in an artificial language (inc ...

See also:

Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Dolphins emit two very distinct kinds of acoustic signals, which we call whistles and clicks. Clicks - quick broadband burst pulses - are used for echolocation, although some lower-frequency broadband vocalizations may serve a non-echolocative purpose such as communication such as the pulsed calls of Orcas. Pulses in a click train a~`35-50 milliseconds, and in general these inter-click intervals are slightly greater than the two-way travel time of sound to and from the target. Whistles - narrow band freque ...

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Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Communication

Although dolphins are themselves mammals, their brains are constructed and act differently than those of most mammals. Unlike most mammalian brains, which have six neocortical layers, dolphins have five. While most sleeping mammals go through a stage known as REM sleep, dolphin studies have not shown any brain wave patterns associated with REM sleep. Unlike terrestrial mammals, dolphin brains contain a paralimbic lobe, which may possibly be used for sensory processing. It is notable that the dolphin is a voluntary breather, even in sleep, wi ...

See also:

Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains

The ability to possess self-awareness shows highly-developed, abstract thinking. Self-awareness is the precursor to more advanced processes like meta-cognitive reasoning (thinking about thinking) that are typical of humans. Scientific research into self-awareness has suggested that Bottlenose Dolphins possess self-awareness. Dolphins differ markedly so an assessment can not be made for all species, some of which have much ...

See also:

Cetacean intelligence, Cetacean intelligence - Brain characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Differences from other mammalian brains, Cetacean intelligence - Behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Pack characteristics, Cetacean intelligence - Complex play, Cetacean intelligence - Creative behavior, Cetacean intelligence - Communication, Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness, Cetacean intelligence - Comparative Cognition

Read more here: » Cetacean intelligence: Encyclopedia II - Cetacean intelligence - Self-awareness