I thought some of you folks might be interested in this................
Ed
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 6:51 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [BP/BNnews] Mirror Tests Reflect Dolphins' Intelligence
>
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010430/sc/science_dolphins_dc_1.html
>
> Monday April 30 5:08 PM ET
>
> Mirror Tests Reflect Dolphins' Intelligence
> By Will Dunham
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a reflection of their intelligence, bottlenose
> dolphins named Presley and Tab at the New York Aquarium have displayed the
> ability to recognize themselves in a mirror -- a quality previously seen
> only in people and the great apes, researchers said on Monday.
>
> The two male dolphins were housed in a pool with reflective glass walls at
> the aquarium in Brooklyn. Researchers found the dolphins reacted to their
> own reflections without the social responses they displayed when seeing
> other dolphins.
>
> Testing whether they could distinguish themselves from other dolphins, the
> researchers placed markings in non-toxic black ink on various places on
> the
> bodies of 13-year-old Presley and 17-year-old Tab. The dolphins then swam
> to the mirror walls and exposed the mark to the reflective surface in
> order
> to look at it.
>
> The location where they were marked changed from session to session --
> sometimes, for example, between the pectoral fins, on the tummy, or on
> different parts of the head. The dolphins were indifferent toward the
> markings on one another.
>
> But they swam more quickly to the mirror after a black mark had been left
> on their bodies, the researchers found. They spent more time in front of
> the mirror after being marked than when they were not marked, and the
> first
> behavior when arriving at the mirror was exposing the black mark to check
> it out.
>
> ``One of the things we try to do is find ways of characterizing and
> measuring and comparing intelligence in other animals across species,''
> Diana Reiss, a scientist in the Wildlife Conservation Society's Osborn
> Laboratories of Marine Science located at the aquarium, said in an
> interview.
>
> ``So this is one of those nice studies that allows us to say these
> abilities are not just found in primates, they are also seen in dolphins.
> It lets us really get a better understanding of the nature of the
> dolphins'
> intelligence.''
>
> Reiss conducted the study with Lori Marino of Emory University in Atlanta.
> The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
> Sciences (news - web sites).
>
> ``There are places in the world where these animals are being
> slaughtered,'' Reiss said. ``This perhaps may heighten our awareness of
> the
> importance of conservation efforts and the need to protect these
> animals.''
>
> Elite Company In The Animal Kingdom
>
> The great apes -- chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans -- all have shown
> the mirror self-recognition ability in experiments. But other animals have
> failed the test in various studies, including lesser apes, monkeys and
> elephants.
>
> ``This is the first conclusive study that shows that there seems to be a
> convergence in these abilities between the large-brained primates,
> including humans, and a very different animal (a dolphin) that's come from
> a very different background and environmental history, and has a very
> different body type and brain organization,'' Reiss said.
>
> In people, the mirror self-recognition ability generally arises between
> the
> ages of 18 months and 2 years and represents the beginning of a
> developmental process of achieving increasingly abstract psychological
> levels of self-awareness, including introspection, the researchers said.
>
> Experts are debating whether this self-recognition in great apes and
> dolphins means they are capable of more abstract levels of self-awareness
> -- for example, to conceive of their own identity.
>
> Marine biologists already knew dolphins were among the most intelligent
> animals.
>
> ``What we see is that they show a lot of the similar cognitive processes
> that chimps do -- they have excellent skills for memory, they are able to
> learn and comprehend artificial codes,'' Reiss said.
>
> ``Their social behavior is quite complex,'' she added. ``They form
> long-lasting bonds. There's a great deal of social learning that occurs
> between a youngster and its mother.''
>
>
> Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
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> prior
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> Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
>
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