Is that you Flipper?
They say elephants are the kings of the animal world when it comes to remembering things but that title could soon be usurped from the giant land wanderers by a more sea-faring mammal. A new study has found that dolphins can recognise old friends after more than 20 years apart by remembering their distinctive whistle. This, according to scientists, is the longest social memory recorded for a non-human species. Each dolphin has a unique, name-like whistle and because they use this to remember each other their memory could be even better than ours. A vital factor to human recognition is sight, but because appearances change over time remembering old faces becomes harder as time goes on. For dolphins, their signature whistle remains the same meaning they can easily recognise other dolphins despite being separated for decades. The study was conducted using data collected from 53 different bottlenose dolphins that had been rotated between six different facilities as part of a breeding programme going back decades. Because researchers knew how long certain dolphins had been apart they were able to test the animals’ memories. One of the lead researchers, Dr Jason Bruck, played recordings of whistles to dolphins that once lived with those that made the call. He found that the animals would respond significantly more when they heard a call they recognised compared to an unfamiliar one. We already know they’re one of the most intelligent animals and having a good memory might just be one of the reasons for it.