Dolphins have acute vision above and below water.
we could learn from our aquatic cousins.”
More evidence of dolphins’ intelligence can
be found in the animals’ interaction with mirrors. In 2001, Reiss published a paper showing that dolphins, like humans and great
apes, have the cognitive ability to recognize
themselves in reflective surfaces. “It may
seem simple to us, but it suggests a very high
level of self awareness,” Reiss says.
She and Frans de Waal, a chimpanzee
researcher at Emory University, continued
the study with three adult female elephants
and got the same results.
“Dolphins, humans, chimps and elephants
all showed the same stages of behavior at the
mirror,” Reiss explains. “First they explore
the mirror. Then they try to look behind the
mirror … to see if someone is there. Then
they show the [next] stage that we call contingency testing, where they become aware of
their behavior. They learn there is a one-toone correspondence between their behavior
and what they are seeing in the mirror. And
then they go on to this stage we call selfdirected behavior and they use the mirror as
a tool to look at themselves. And, like us, they
are interested in looking at their eyes and the
insides of their mouths—parts of their bodies
they can’t see without a mirror.”
In her book “The Dolphin in the Mirror,”
Reiss gives readers a sense of the dolphin’s
intelligence and individuality. “They have
distinct personalities,” she explains. “They
have distinct ways of being and of thinking.
They’re cognitive. They feel pain and suffering. These are really advanced, large-brained
animals that happen to live in the ocean, and
they need protection.”
Swimming to the Future
For Reiss, research holds importance that
goes beyond satisfying curiousity. “Our science doesn’t just stay in one country,” she
says. “Our science transcends geographic
and cultural boundaries.”
Fortunat