Dolphins Can Use Technology!? | Animal IQ

Are dolphins as intelligent as we think they are or do they just seem that way?

Dolphins are playful and intelligent sea creatures. Humans are enamored with their smarts. We all know they can jump through hoops, but just how much brain power do dolphins have? Can they recognize friends from strangers? Comprehend basic mathematics? Surely they can’t use a giant underwater touchscreen… can they? (They can!) What can’t dolphins do? You’ll have to tune in to Animal IQ to find out! This week Natalia called Dr Diana Riess a dolphin intelligence expert from Hunter College and Trace called Ph.D student Diana Rocha of the World Cetacean Alliance and Dolphin Encountours to learn more about these precocious porpoises.

On Animal IQ we dig into the research and talk to the experts to find out just how smart animals appear to be. We then use that knowledge to fill in our AIQ Rubric across five domains of intelligence: Social, Rational, Awareness, Ecological, and our own intelligence X-Factor. Every animal is clever, but their talents vary based on their evolution, biology, values, adaptations and environment. We hope y'all learn how each of our animals tick on Animal IQ!

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This program is produced in collaboration with PBS Nature! Follow them across the internet:

Support was also provided by PBS Digital Studios! Follow them and learn more every day:

You can also seek out our experts and hosts here:
:: Dr Diana Reiss ::
:: Diana Rocha ::
:: Dr Natalia Borrego ::
:: Trace Dominguez ::

📚 READ MORE

Watch this Dolphin use a giant touchscreen
To say that dolphins are smart as heck is an understatement. They can detect magnetic fields, get high off sucking the life out of other marine life, have been used in several countries' military as weapons or as bomb detectors—and now, they're able to use touchscreens.

Decades-Long Social Memory exists in Bottlenose Dolphins
Long-term social memory is important, because it is an ecologically relevant test of cognitive capacity, it helps us understand which social relationships are remembered and it relates two seemingly disparate disciplines: cognition and sociality.

Dolphins can understand partners role in a cooperative task
In recent decades, a number of studies have examined whether various non-human animals understand their partner’s role in cooperative situ- ations. Yet the relatively tolerant timing requirements of these tasks make it theoretically possible for animals to succeed by using simple behavioural strategies rather than by jointly intended coordination.

Foraging with a sponge on their ‘nose’ : Is this tool use?
During long-term research on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, several individuals were observed carrying sponges, Echinodictyum mesenterinum, on their rostra…

[enoughalready]

I love dolphins!! I was on a boat in Hawaii one time and a pod of wild dolphins were jumping in front of our boat. The captain stopped so we could watch them and I leaned over the edge reaching down toward the water. A dolphin came up out of the water and touched my hand with its snout. It was the coolest experience ever. A completely wild dolphin popped out of the water and touched me! 🤯

[gordianplot]

Please do some of the animals with a reputation for stupidity. Turkeys, sheep, pigeons, turtles. For all of these I have heard both people rant about how stupid they are and others claim they are smarter than I think.

[GaasubaMeskhenet]

I'd love a segment at the end where the score is compared to some of the previously scored animals~

[stardolphin]

"They wont pop out of the sea and do your taxes"

Correct, i still dont know how to do taxes

[artemesiagentileschini]

Pls do a bear IQ episode, especially the sun bear with the highest EQ among ursids.

[dboyzero]

Still waiting on an octopus episode! Their intelligence is legendary!

[WanderTheNomad]

I wonder if they could recognize our symbols for numbers. Like if we put the number 1 next to one dot or the number 7 next to seven dots.
And then remove the dots and only have the numbers to see if they've associated the number symbol with the actual number.

[onebylandtwoifbysearunifby]

Once again,
Judging animal intelligence by how well they learn OUR language.
Y'all realize we're too dumb to learn theirs, right?

[mnke]

Pls do pig iq remember their smarter than dogs

[anthonyfrench]

This is interesting if convergent evolution is at play here with Ichythyosaurs? Obviously it's an open ended question. But it's cool to imagine it

[DolphinResearchCenter]

Great show! Thanks so much for including two of our cognition studies - the one where we showed dolphins two boards with different numbers of white dots and asked them to pick the board with fewer dots and the one where two dolphins coordinated pushing underwater buttons together. That study demonstrated that dolphins understand their partner's role in cooperating to accomplish a task. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you ever want to talk more about dolphin cognition!

[MidwestManMountain]

This is the best newest PBS Digital Studios channel since Storied. I'm a big fan. Nice series.

[solchapeau]

Reacting to the sound of an old friend means nothing unless it's also shown that they ignore unknown calls.

[gofen]

Can you please add this video to your "Animal IQ " playlist ?? Also add the Lion 🦁, too
PLS!!!!

[Canadian_Ry]

I saw an article that mentioned that some species of African Elephant fish have a brain to body size ratio about the same as humans. I think oxygen levels in the mormyrids' environment affects this ratio.

[rdxhate]

I made a facebook group when they first made the group feature, called "Giant Ipad for dolphins and whales" because the Ipad had just come out and there wasn't any copy cats yet that established the "tablet" category. Coco the gorilla was able to learn sign language, but dolphins don't have arms. I figured if we could teach a dolphin how to type on a keyboard, maybe we could eventually find the rosetta stone needed to decipher their whistles and language. Or we could at least find out the limitations for how smart they are. I'm glad someone finally did it.

[mixiekins]

It could be that you haven't enriched your cat enough if he doesn't understand that you're pointing. I've trained both of my cats to do tricks, walk on a leash, and communicate non-verbally to express what they want. They clearly comprehend a sizeable vocabulary as well, as they immediately recognize a word and rush to the location which the associated experience occurs (wheat geass, walks, dental chews, play, brushing, etc.)

It may be worth interviewing Samantha and the AcroCats, I met her once in Austin TX when her bus broke down and she called the mobile mechanic I was training under at the time. Her philosophy on feline behavior is fascinating, and I've been able to replicate many of her mehods on my own.

[Nulley]

Everybody gangsta till the dolphins start to sing:

So long and thanks for all the fish

[DonnaBrooks]

Rae wants an ep about BEARS! Me, too! I love bears! I see Terra has a clip called, "How to Think Like an Octopus." You could certainly do an ep on octopod intelligence! Also, excepting orcas, what do we know about whale intelligence?

[rohitwankhede]

Please do a vedio on corvids like crows the are pretty intelligence