Fwd: Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons'

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece

 

 

 

 

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From The Sunday Times

January 3, 2010

Scientists say dolphins should be treated as

'non-human persons'

 

Dolphins have long been recognised as among the most intelligent of

animals but many researchers had placed them below chimps

Jonathan Leake

 

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Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent

creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they

should be treated as “non-human personsâ€.

Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications

are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have

been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key

features associated with high intelligence.

The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable

to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or

by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in

this way each year.

“Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to

the human brain when corrected for body size,†said Lori Marino, a zoologist at

Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has used magnetic resonance imaging

scans to map the brains of dolphin species and compare them with those of primates.

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