Dolphins are as dumb as worms, claims new study

Dolphins may be more stupid than goldfish, chickens and even mealworms, new research suggests.

Scientists say the idea that the animals have equal or superior intelligence to humans and apes is unfounded, and that many of the ‘skills’ attributed to them – such as the ability to use a tools and communicate with a complex ‘language’ – are either shared with other animals or are simply urban myths.

In a new paper, neuroethologist Paul Manger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa says behavioral studies involving dolphins are flawed and therefore not very informative.

‘We put them on a pedestal for no reason and projected a lot of our desires and wishes on them,’ said Manger. ‘The idea of the exceptionally intelligent dolphin is a myth.’

Whereas goldfish placed in a bowl try to jump out to freedom, dolphins rarely try to escape when they are caught in nets.

While zoologists have observed that dolphins can distinguish between the concepts ‘many’ and ‘few’, he suggests the same ability has also been demonstrated in yellow mealworms.

Manger said evidence that dolphins have learned sophisticated ‘tool use’ is ‘flimsy’, based as it is on the fact that some bottlenose dolphins on Australia’s west coast have learned to hold sponges in their snouts to help them find food on the ocean floor.

‘Exactly what the dolphins do with the sponges remains unknown,’ he said.

While researchers have been able to teach bottle-nosed dolphins to recognise an ‘alphabet’ of as many as 40 symbols, Manger pointed out that African grey parrots and California sea lions have also managed the same feat.

And while much has been made of the dolphin’s ability to identify itself with a ‘signature whistle’, experts now say that this is not a complex language, and say it is no more unusual than the tail-wagging dances of bees or ‘signature’ accoustic signals made by other marine animals.

A new book by Justin Gregg, a zoologist with the US-based Dolphin Communication Project, is also seeking to bring to light this research that could strip the animal of its title of brainbox of the seas.

‘It’s probably not the case that dolphins have their own language, which is as complex as human language,’ said Gregg, an expert in animal communication.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk