Thursday, January 14, 2016

Day 14 - Imitate

Day 14: Imitate

We've all heard the expression "monkey see, monkey do" - but actually, that's a myth. Imitation is very rare in the animal kingdom and - apart from humans - the animal that us best at imitation is the dolphin.

We wanted to explore this ability further so we prepared two studies on imitation. In our first study, Blindfolded Imitation in a Bottle Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) that was published by the International Journal of Comparative Psychology, we asked Tanner to copy the behaviors of another dolphin while wearing eyecups. And... he could do it! But how? Without the ability to use his vision, he must have used sound, either by echolocating to "see" the behavior, or by recognizing the characteristic sound the behavior makes,

In our second study, called Switching Strategies: A Dolphin's use of Passive and Active Acoustics to Imitate Motor Actions, we discovered that when a dolphin could recognize the behavior by its characteristic sound, he did so. When he did not, he chose to use his echolocation in order to answer the question. This study was published in Animal Cognition. With these studies, DRC has shown that dolphins not only have the ability to imitate, but can imitate with a kind of problem-solving flexibility that's never been seen outside of humans.

Although these studies are very popular in the animal cognition world, DRC also gives our guests the opportunity to learn about the dolphins' imitation abilities during our narrated behavior sessions and interactive programs. We can ask the dolphins to imitate an array of behaviors, such as laughing, waving, spinning, spitting, splashing, bobbing up and down, doing a handstand (as you see in this photo), and more. With no additional information given to the dolphins, they have demonstrated that they can watch a subject then copy that specific behavior. It's a fun experience for our guests, and ties the knowledge they gain into a memory to be shared with others.


Anonymous said...

Dear Madam / Sir / Miss,
Hello. I want to express my thoughts on the baby dolphine murdered by the Argentinians as reported by the news. Few questions. Why did the baby dolphine swim so close to the beach ? This means something to me who does not know much about dolphine. This means the baby dolphine is already sick. Whether or not the humans murder it or not, that is a controversy. It will not matter because whether it is murder by the humans, it might somehow die on its' own. Then who murdered it ? Its' mom ? But the obsessed culture of selfie is a fashion trend these days. Because humans again are so great to invent this thing call smart phone. So who kill the dophine ? All the clever people who invent the smartphone ? It is a never ending cycle of suffering. What is so smart when it is so stupid ?

The DRC Family said...

The incident in Argentina with the little dolphin is upsetting to everyone. Unfortunately, there are too many people who don’t think about what they are doing and how their actions can harm dolphins and other animals. This should never have happened. Unfortunately, we don’t know why the little dolphin swam so close to the beach. It could have been sick. Something else could have happened to its mother and that’s why it was alone. Again, we have no way of knowing. Hopefully the fact that the story is getting so much exposure on the internet will help to spread the message and teach people not to do this again. If any dolphin or marine animal comes close to humans or is found on a beach, people should not touch it in any way. If it’s on the beach, it is sick or injured and should not be pushed back into the water. People need to call marine mammal rescue experts to come and help it. The experts will then advise what should be done until they can get there. Thank you for caring about the dolphins.