And
even though we haven't really learned how
to properly measure intelligence in humans, let alone in whales or
other
animals, whales and dolphins do have large brains, even compared to
their large bodies, and while whales have been more difficult to study,
we all know about dolphin intelligence and what captive dolphins can
learn.
Whale
Intelligence
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Whales
have
been more difficult to study than dolphins
because there are many dolphins living in captivity, while
whales
are wild animals, too large for us to train in captivity. And, it is
hard to compare the IQ of such different creatures like humans and
whales. It's easier for us to measure the IQ of higher primates,
because we can relate to them, but whales are too different animals to
ourselves, so it is really hard for us to measure how smart they really
are. They
do have large brains, but then again, their bodies are large too. That
said, it's clear that whales are a very high form of animals, which
evolved right before primates (and humans). And the whale songs which
are almost like phrases in a language, clearly indicate that they
cannot possibly be too stupid animals. The problem is it's hard for us
to understand their capacities.
Dolphin
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Dolphins,
which are also whales, prove further that the closely related large
baleen whales
cannot be totally
dumb creatures. Dolphins have shown an
amazing
ability to learn. They recognise themselves in a mirror, understand
concepts like "more" and "less", and they have been able to learn human
sign language,
at least easy sentences like "touch this ball with your tail then jump
over it". At the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in
Mississippi, dolphins have been trained to clean their cages
so
every time they
bring some rubbish to their keepers they get fish. One dolphin learned
to hide a piece of trash under a rock in the bottom of the cage, and
bring one small piece at the time to the keepers to get more fish ;-)
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