NYT: Looking at Flipper, Seeing Ourselves

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/opinion/09dewaal.html

October 9, 2006

Op-Ed Contributor

 

Looking at Flipper, Seeing Ourselves

By FRANS de WAAL

 

 

Atlanta

 

NO one blinks when a celebrity is called " vacuous " or a politician a

" moron " - but when headlines screamed that dolphins are " dimwits " and

" flippin' idiots, " I was truly shocked. Is this a way to talk about

an animal so revered that there are several Web domain names that

include " smart dolphin " ?

 

This is not to say that one should believe everything about them. For

example, their supposed " smile " is fake (they lack the facial

musculature for expressions), and all we seem to have learned from

chatting " dolphinese " with them is that lone male dolphins are keenly

interested in female researchers.

 

Nevertheless, it's going too far to say that dolphins are dimwits.

Yet this is the claim of Paul Manger, a South African scientist who

says that dolphins' relatively large brains are due simply to

preponderance of fatty glial cells. These glia produce heat, which

allows the brain's neurons to do their job in the cold ocean.

 

Based on this observation, Professor Manger couldn't resist

speculating that the intelligence of dolphins and other cetaceans

(like whales and porpoises) is vastly overrated. He offered gems of

insight, such as that dolphins are too stupid to jump over a slight

barrier (as when they are trapped in a tuna net), whereas most other

animals will. Even a goldfish will jump out of its bowl, he noted.

 

If we skip the technicalities - such as that glial cells are not

simply insulation, that they add connectivity to the brain, and that

humans, too, have many more glial cells than neurons - the question

remains why the prospect of animal intelligence sets off such

controversy. Could it be that the huge size of the dolphin brain,

which exceeds ours by 15 percent or more, threatens the human ego?

Are we to ignore the billions and billions of neurons that dolphins

do possess?

 

The goldfish remark reminded me of a common strategy of those who

play down animal intelligence. They love to " demonstrate " remarkable

cognitive feats in small-brained species: if a rat or pigeon can do

it, it can't be that special. Thus, some pigeons have been trained to

use " symbolic communication " by pecking a key marked " thank you! "

that delivered food to another pigeon. And they have also been

conditioned to peck at their own bodies in front of a mirror,

supporting the claim that they are " self-aware. "

 

Clearly, pigeons are trainable. But is this truly comparable to the

actions of Presley, a dolphin at the New York Aquarium, who, without

any rewards, reacted to being marked with paint by taking off at high

speed to a distant part of his tank where a mirror was mounted? There

he spun round and round, the way we do in a dressing room, appearing

to check himself out.

 

What is so upsetting to some people about the closeness between

animal and human intelligence, or between animal and human emotions,

for that matter? Just saying that animals can learn from each other,

and hence have rudimentary cultures, or that they can be jealous or

empathic is taken by some as a personal affront. Accusations of

anthropomorphism will fly, and we'll be urged to be parsimonious in

our explanations. The message is that animals are no humans.

 

That much is obvious. But it is equally true that humans are animals.

Is it so outlandish, from an evolutionary standpoint, to assume that

if a large-brained mammal acts similarly to us under similar

circumstances, the psychology behind its behavior is probably

similar, too? This is true parsimony in the scientific sense, the

idea that the simplest explanation is often the best. Those who

resist this framework are in " anthropodenial " - they cling to

unproven differences.

 

Since Aristotle, humans have known that dolphins are incredibly

social. Each individual produces its own unique whistle sound by

which the others recognize him or her. They enjoy lifelong bonds and

reconcile after fights by means of " petting. " The males form

power-seeking coalitions, not unlike the politics of chimpanzees and

humans. Dolphins also support sick companions near the surface, where

they can breathe. They may encircle a school of herring, driving the

fish together in a compact ball and releasing bubbles to keep them in

place, after which they pick their food like fruit from a tree.

 

In captivity, dolphins are known to imitate the gait and gestures of

people walking by, and to outsmart their keepers. One female dolphin

that was rewarded with a fish for every piece of debris she managed

to collect from her tank managed to con her trainers into a bounty of

snacks. They discovered she had been hiding large items like

newspapers underwater, only to rip small pieces from them, bringing

these to her trainer one by one.

 

There are tons of such observations, which is why most of us believe

in dolphin intelligence - glia or no glia. It also explains why the

slaughter of dolphins, as still occurs every year in Japan, arouses

such strong emotions and controversy.

 

Still, I must admit that the whole dolphin affair has also offered me

some fresh insights. From now on, if I find my goldfish thrashing on

the floor, I will congratulate him before dropping him back into his

bowl.

 

Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University, is the

author of " Our Inner Ape. "

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

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