About dolphines

 About their brain

The theory most commonly accepted is that this larger brain evolved to support more
complex cognitive abilities. They can remember events and learn concepts, changing their
behavior as a result of previous experience. They can communicate with each other during
cooperative behaviors, manage relationships in their pods and raise their young. They can
understand not only symbolic (sign) language words but can interpret the syntax (word)
order of language. This understanding of syntax is highly indicative of intelligence.
Signature whistles produced by dolphins (see the "vocalization" chapter of this
website) serve to offer some evidence that dolphins have a self-awareness, or the capacity
to have a concept of "self" and to know that one exists as an individual being. Self-
awareness exists in the brain's pre-frontal cortex. Other than in dolphins, self-awareness
appears to exist only in large brained primates and man.
They are aware of their own recent behaviors and can repeat a behavior or, when asked
by a trainer, perform a behavior which has not been performed recently.

 Communication
Communication in bottlenose dolphins appears to be extensive and complex. A dolphin
maintains an intricate social network that includes a few close associates (such as mothers
and calves or pair-bonded males), plus more casual relationships with others who come
and go within a larger group.
Sound travels 4.5 – 5 times faster through water than through the air. For this reason
dolphins rely on sound for communication more than any other mode. Scientists believe
that every bottlenose dolphin develops a distinctive high-pitched whistle, called a signature
whistle (Tyack, 2000). This whistle appears to serve as a means of individual
identification, much like a name. It may let the rest of the pod know which pod members
are around, where they are, and, perhaps, something about their mental state. Dolphins in
distress sometimes emit their signature whistles very loudly. Whistles may serve to
establish or maintain vocal or physical contact between dolphins. Dolphins often respond
to another dolphin’s whistle by whistling themselves or moving toward the whistler. If they
become separated, a young calf and its mother whistle frequently until reunited. Dolphins
also whistle when separated from other group members.

Dolphins produce two kinds of vocal signals: pure tones and pulsed sounds. Pure tones can take the
form of whistles (Whistle), chirps (Chirp), screams (Scream) and other continuous sounds that you
are likely familiar with. 
Scientists studying bottlenose dolphins have proposed the idea that each individual dolphin
produces its own ‘signature whistle’ – a stable unique whistle structure that a dolphin develops
during the first year of its life. Dolphins appear to be able to produce their own signature whistle
quite reliably, but also the signature whistle of their friends.  Isolated or lost dolphins appear to
frantically produce signature whistles, apparently calling out to their friends. The jury is still out on
the exact nature of the signature whistle however – some scientists believe that the whistles may not
be all that stable – changing over time throughout a dolphin’s life. And it may be, like the orca, that
these signature whistles are simply variations of shared whistles within a group. Regardless of the
details, it is clear that whistles form an important basis from which much acoustic communication
takes place between individuals.

Unlike whistles, pulsed sounds are brief sounds (called clicks) that occur in rapid succession at
regular intervals. A series of clicks together is called a ‘click train’. Usually scientists classify these
as either echolocation clicks, or ‘bursts pulses’. Echolocation clicks are used for sonar purposes
(check out our episode on echolocation for more information ), and generally a dolphin will make a
click and then wait for the echoes from that click to return before producing the next click.
Echolocation is not a form of communication, but rather a method of ‘seeing’ the world
through sound. By listening to the information coming back in the click echoes, dolphins can get a
mental image of objects in their environment.
Burst pulses occur when dolphins release clicks so rapidly that it is not believe that they are able to
gain any sonar information from the returning click echoes. Clicks can be released as high as 200 a
second and still likely yield information for echolocation – but clicks released over that rate, and
extending as rapidly as 2000 clicks per second – are thought to be communication signals, not
echolocation signals. Dolphins of many species release bursts pulses when they are excited or
angry, and burst pulses are thought to convey information about a dolphin’s emotional state. Some
scientist have found a very specific burst signal produced by bottlenose dolphins that appears to be
a ‘play’ signal – indicating to other dolphins that ‘it’s time to for games, so I’m not really being
aggressive’. Burst pulses can be extremely loud, and dolphins may use them during aggressive
encounters – possibly to hurt the ‘ears’ of other dolphins. Burst pulse sounds are often seen in social
situation where males are herding female dolphins, where burst pulses are directed at the genital
region of the fleeing females. They have also been observed when a mother emits a loud burst
pulses directed at a misbehaving calf. Different kinds of burst pulse sounds used during aggressive
encounters have been given names like ‘squawks’ and ‘barks’ – these click trains are often
produced so rapidly that to the human ear, they sound like a continuous sounds, but in reality that
are a series of tightly packed clicks. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between a burst pulse
and an echolocation click train, and scientists are just now learning about how dolphins use burst
pulses in social situations.

 Non vocal communication

Tail slaps (or lob tailing): dolphins often hit the surface of the water with their tail (flukes),
producing a very loud booming sound that can transmit great distances in the water. Often a tailslap
is a sign of aggression, but this need not always be the case. Tail slaps may mean many things in
many situations – for example, a signal that it is time to leave the area. It may simply be a means of
getting the attention of friends who are some distance away.
Flipper slaps: just like they would do with their tails, dolphins slap their flippers (that is, their
pectoral fins) to sound. They may slap their flippers on the surface of the water, or onto their own
body (e.g., their belly). This likely produces a similar effect to the tail slap.
Jaw claps and jaw pops: dolphins can produce extremely loud sounds by rapidly clamping their
jaws together. This behavior bangs their teeth together, producing an acoustic signal that transmits
large distances. Jaw claps are generally understood to be an aggressive signal, used as a threat. But
jaw clapping also occurs during play – the difference between real aggression and play aggression
is often very subtle, just like in the case of humans.
Chuffs: dolphins exhale rapidly, and you can often hear the sound of an exhaling dolphin if you
happen to by nearby when they break the surface. Dolphins may also exhale rapidly through their
blowhole as a communicative signal, producing a loud sound called a ‘chuff’ – a chuff is another
signal thought to denote aggression.
Breaches: Many cetacean species engage in breaching behavior which includes part of the body or
the entire body leaving the water before crashing back into the surface. Some Breaches produce
loud sounds (sometimes called percussive sounds) with many low frequencies that travel long
distances. Breaching may occur for a variety of reasons – possibly it is a method of removing
remoras or other parasites, but more than likely it is a communicative signal. Breaching may
produce sounds that convey information about emotional or motivations states, or the sound
produced may tell distant friends about a dolphin’s position and the direction it is moving.