#71386
05/26/2002 4:34 PM
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Joined: May 2002
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[ DOLPHINS ]
The nasal echo location system of a dolphin is of such a wavelength that it can see through the bodies of other animals and people. Skin, muscle and fat are almost transparent to dolphins, so they "see" a thin outline of the body, but the bones, teeth, and gas-filled cavities are clearly apparent. The latter include the sinuses, lungs, bronchi, intestines, etc. Although their echos carry information about the physical condition of another dolphin, a person, or another animal at which they are looking, we do not know, at present, whether dolphins know the significance of what they "see" inside their bodies, or ours. However they do receive the physical evidence of cancers, tumors, strokes, heart attacks, and even emotional states.
-George Barnes as quoted in Mad About Physics
DOLPHINS AND PEOPLE
In 1963 two scientists peered over the edge of a tank at the Communication Research Institute on St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Elvar the dolphin, spotting at least one friendly face swam over and presented his belly at the surface. The animal was inviting the scientists to tickle him. One scientist obliged and scratched him several times, but on each occasion the dolphin rested a little deeper in the water. At last, the dolphin was to deep to reach and the scientist gave up, removing his hand from the tank. Instantly, the dolphin swam to the surface, raised itself until it stood on its tail and, towering over the two men enunciated the word "more". Had he understood the word "more" or had he simply mimicked a sound that triggered the desired response? Either way, it was a momentous occasion for astronomer Carl Sagan and pioneering dolphin researcher John Lilly.
Forty years ago Old Charley, a dolphin that herded herring under the old quay at Monkey Mia, Western Australia, making it easier for fisherman to catch them. The fisherman threw him tidbits and he returned time and time again at precisely 7:15 every day. Other dolphins followed his example, and in 1964 a teenage girl on holiday with her family encouraged the dolphins, including an elderly female called Old Speckled Belly, to take fish directly from her hand. Today dolphins still arrive at the beach - Crooked Fin and her daughter Puck, Snubnose, Holey Fin and several others - and people from all over the world, including scientists studying the social behavior of dolphins, can feed and touch these habituated wild dolphins.
As the diver entered the water, a dolphin suddenly appeared, postured, whistled and then made off. Minutes later it reappeared repeated its dance and dived below. The diver followed, only to be confronted by a large shark that was headed straight for him with its mouth agape. His camera housing protected him from injury, but as the shark prepared for a second attack, two dolphins appeared, putting themselves between the diver and the attacker. When the dolphins headed to the surface to breathe, the diver was alone, and the shark began to tighten the circle. Suddenly a dolphin appeared, then more, until six dolphins began to usher the shark away, their tail slaps accompanied by a cacophony of clicks and whistles. The diver swam for the surface. French wildlife film-maker Bertrand Loyer was the diver and the event was captured on film. Dolphins really do help save people in times of distress.
DOLPHINS AS HUMANS
Sex and violence are rife in the dolphins world in Shark Bay, Western Australia, gangs of male bottlenose dolphin will kidnap a female from her group and keep her prisoner for a month. Courtship is minimal. The victim is bumped, bitten and herded at will while the gang tries to mate with her. If a larger rival gang appears, the males will enlist the help of grangs with which they have secondary alliances. These alliances can be long-lived, members of a of a raiding gang may stick together for up to 12 years and coalitions with other gangs may last three years. These alliances and secondary alliances are unique to Shark Bay dolphins.
Touch is taken to an extreme by bottlenose dolphins. They seem to use sex as humans use a handshake. Sexual play includes "rostrum rides", during which one dolphin will place its beak in the genital slit of its partner and push the dolphin forward while emitting sonar clicks that excite the other dolphins.
In Virginia, nine baby dolphins were found washed ashore with their skulls smashed. The likely explanation was that rouge male dolphins killed the babies of bottlenose females sired by other males in order to bring the females quickly into oestrus.
DOLPHINS BBS MICHAEL BRIGHT
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#71387
05/27/2002 1:23 AM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
themilum quoth: In Virginia, nine baby dolphins were found washed ashore with their skulls smashed. The likely explanation was that rouge male dolphins killed the babies of bottlenose females sired by other males in order to bring the females quickly into oestrus.
...shouldn't that be rogue?  WW
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#71388
05/27/2002 1:29 PM
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
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veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
...shouldn't that be rogue? - WWWordwind, wordwind, wordwind, do you think that I, the themilum, would make a stupid mistake so as to confuse rouge with rogue? Ha! Maybe when Capistrano comes back to the swallows. But in a perverse sort of way I am glad that it was you what sprung my malaprops trap. My awareness of your school-teaching correctness has always caused me pause when I would prepare to click -[SEND]. What was was I had written myself into a box and was left with no smooth way to include an excluded, but important, fact about dolphins. Hence I dangled the apparent misspelling rouge before your ever-watching eyes, like a worm on a hook, for bait. Now if you will allow me... *****************************************************Scientists have devised tests to establish intelligence in animals. Creatures are welcomed into the elite club of super-intelligent species if they can pass a simple self-awareness test during which an animal must recognize itself in a mirror. Humans, chimpanzees, and orang-utans can do it, but monkeys cannot. The tests involve putting a dab of red paint on their face. (rouge) Chimpanzees quickly see that the paint is on themselves and touch it, but monkeys simply look behind the mirror for the other monkey. The results with dolphins have been inconclusive: vision is not the dolphins primary sense, so it is difficult to interpret results of the rouge test in an animal that has no limbs with which to explore its body. Even so, in tests dolphins were seen to use the mirror to examine marks put on their bodies. ******************************************************NOTE: There are no malaprop hooks in this posting...at least, I don't think. -  - mw
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#71389
05/27/2002 3:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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themilum: Apparently bulls have passed the rouge test, too, and your explanation of that rouge dolphin citation is classic rouge bull. Bull must have self awareness, going after that rouge cape. I know; I know--it's the movement of the cape, but it's funner thinking it's the red.P.S. Edit: I'm just kidding here, milum. And I've also enjoyed thinking about those chimpanzees looking for the one with the rouge marks in back of themselves. What a prank to play on a chimp! The female chimp is thinking, "No way would I have applied my make-up so messily!"
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#71390
05/28/2002 3:40 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
There are no malaprop hooks in this posting...
...at least, I don't think.IDNC, IMR.
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#71391
05/28/2002 1:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
At the west end of the Cape Cod Canal there are a number of dolphins which are not smart at all. They are sturdy "boles" tarred black, driven deep into the bed of the canal near bank, where vessels can be moored when the railroad bridge is down. (or they used to be)
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#71392
05/28/2002 2:40 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
dolphins which are not smart at all. They are sturdy "boles" tarred black, driven deep into the bed of the canal near bankSuch dolphins are all along the Fraser River, too, for tying log booms to. The interesting thing is the origin of that use of the word. I read somewhere it had to do with Delphi, and the port there being the first port to make use of dolphins for tying up boats. (I'm sure it's Googleable. )
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#71393
05/28/2002 8:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Here's a timely joke a friend sent me about dolphins:
I found a cartoon in an old philosophy text. Two dolphins
are swimming side by side having a discussion. The caption
reads:
Although humans make sounds with their mouths and
occasionally look at each other, there is no solid evidence
that they actually communicate with each other.
WW
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#71394
06/07/2002 1:50 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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June 4, 2002: WEYMOUTH, England -- Swimmers are being warned to stay away from a "sexually aggressive" dolphin that has made its home at a popular tourist resort on the English south coast. ... "When dolphins get sexually excited, they try to isolate a swimmer, normally female."What exactly is going on in England nowadays?  http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/04/uk.dolphin/
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