• Dolphins Are Tool Using Animals: Use Shell to Catch Fish
    55 replies, posted
Still not as smart as ravens/crows. One of the few species that is benefiting from human development.
[QUOTE=OvB;31957993]What constitutes tool use? Does it have to be something that's picked up? Or is it simply using an object to make a task easier? If it's the later then we're going to find that many animals use tools. The other day I was reading an article on NatGeo about this fish that would smash shells up against rocks to open them. The researchers were debating whether or not that was considered tool use. What do you think?[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]noun 1. an implement, especially one held in the hand, as a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or facilitating mechanical operations. 2. any instrument of manual operation. 3. the cutting or machining part of a lathe, planer, drill, or similar machine. 4. the machine itself; a machine tool. [B]5. anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose: Education is a tool for success.[/B][/QUOTE] If it helps you do something, it is a tool.
[QUOTE=mildhotsauce;31961710]If it helps you do something, it is a tool.[/QUOTE] If you put it that way, then fish cam use tools also.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;31956679] [IMG]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2011/08/conching2.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE] [IMG]http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/fisherman.jpg[/IMG] [img]http://www.cdnn.info/eco/dolphin_250270.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=OvB;31958822]You put it in quotations as if dolphins are not intelligent. Research is gradually putting dolphins among the most intelligent animals on this planet. They're debatably more intelligent than some primates. Allow Attenborough to explain: I've posted this here before but It's very informative. [editline]26th August 2011[/editline] But they are smart enough to tell humans when to throw their fishing nets.[/QUOTE] And I can teach a dog to retrieve a ball, but I wouldn't let it operate a nuclear missile. I'm talking sentience here, not Instincts 2.0
[QUOTE=Dave_Parker;31966711]And I can teach a dog to retrieve a ball, but I wouldn't let it operate a nuclear missile. I'm talking sentience here, not Instincts 2.0[/QUOTE] Dolphins don't just act on instinct. They are truly intelligent. They are self aware.
[QUOTE=OvB;31957993]What constitutes tool use? Does it have to be something that's picked up? Or is it simply using an object to make a task easier? If it's the later then we're going to find that many animals use tools. The other day I was reading an article on NatGeo about this fish that would smash shells up against rocks to open them. The researchers were debating whether or not that was considered tool use. What do you think?[/QUOTE] What's more interesting is when individuals learn to use them and teach others how to use them. A lot of animals can use tools(smashing shells up against rocks would be tool use in my eyes), but most of the use is instinctual. The animals simply knows to do that because of it's genetics. Very few animals learn how to use tools and can teach other individuals how to use them.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;31966926]What's more interesting is when individuals learn to use them and teach others how to use them. A lot of animals can use tools(smashing shells up against rocks would be tool use in my eyes), but most of the use is instinctual. The animals simply knows to do that because of it's genetics. Very few animals learn how to use tools and can teach other individuals how to use them.[/QUOTE] Dolphins teach their young a lot of things. There was a story of a dolphin that was kept in captivity because it was wounded. It was only there for a week and it was never put in a show. However it's tank was right next to a tank with a show dolphin in it. The dolphin was released and years later they caught an entire pod of dolphins doing tricks that were taught in shows perfectly. They later found out that the dolphin that was in captivity was in that pod. That dolphin not only learned through observation but taught an entire pod how to do the trick. A pod of dolphins that uses sponges to search for fish was also found teaching their young how to do it. Using the sponge was only seen in pods in this particular region. They are amazing animals.
Crows are among the most intelligent creatures on this planet too, they bend metal wires into a hook to get to places their beak can't reach. I even read an article where they put on a mask and started bothering crows at a campus. Later on, they found out they recognize faces and are able to pass on this information because when they put on the mask in the city, crows started attacking them.
The dictionary definition of tool is slightly human-biased, in that it needs to be handheld. This is pretty cool. They've also discovered that dolphins understand that a mirror is a reflection of themselves. If someone put a dot on the back of their fin, they'd contort in the mirror to try and find the dot.
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;31956792]Dolphins are the only animals that fuck for pleasure. I want to fuck dolphins[/QUOTE] [img]http://i35.tinypic.com/iwtdlg.gif[/img]
[QUOTE=OvB;31957993]What constitutes tool use? Does it have to be something that's picked up? Or is it simply using an object to make a task easier? If it's the later then we're going to find that many animals use tools. The other day I was reading an article on NatGeo about this fish that would smash shells up against rocks to open them. The researchers were debating whether or not that was considered tool use. What do you think?[/QUOTE] Using an object to complete a goal, constitutes Tool use, to me anyway In before masturbation jokes
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Magpie#Intelligence]Magpies are cooler.[/url]
awwwww it thinks its people
I've always been a fan of dolphins. They're like aquatic US.
[QUOTE=Chinook249;31979313]I've always been a fan of dolphins. They're like aquatic US.[/QUOTE] Basically, yeah. Murderous enough, check. Horny enough, check. Well developed learning ability, check. Intelligent enough, probably. To the harpoons?
Well they are the second smartest animals on the planet, us being the third.
[QUOTE=Badunkadunk;31982004]Well they are the second smartest animals on the planet, us being the third.[/QUOTE]Republicans being the fourth?
I wonder if there are any dolphin philosophers who wish they had a lunguage they could communicate their insights in.
[QUOTE=jeimizu;31956759]Damn researchers, stealing all the good news puns.[/QUOTE] One of my lecturers does research on Dolphins, specifically on the Shark Bay group. Although he's more interested in their Social interactions, as Dolphins have a very defined and interesting social network. This is great news, and the puns (William the Concherer, for example) are very typical of what I've encountered working with academics/researchers - We all seem to have terrible senses of humour.
[QUOTE=Craigewan;31991981]One of my lecturers does research on Dolphins, specifically on the Shark Bay group. Although he's more interested in their Social interactions, as Dolphins have a very defined and interesting social network. This is great news, and the puns (William the Concherer, for example) are very typical of what I've encountered working with academics/researchers - We all seem to have terrible senses of humour.[/QUOTE] Shark researchers and surfers call sharks "the man/men in grey suits" when they're in public beaches as to not cause a panic if someone over heard them talking about sharks in close vicinity. The idiom also fits sharks very well: "men in business or politics who have a lot of power and influence although the public does not see them or know about them."
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;31958741]they'll never be smart enough to outsmart a harpoon[/QUOTE] It costs 40,000 sardines to catch fish with this conch shell [I][B]for twelve seconds[/B][/I] (First thing that came to my mind when he said that was "I have yet to meet man who can outsmart bullet")
[QUOTE=killkill85;31993870]It costs 40,000 sardines to catch fish with this conch shell [I][B]for twelve seconds[/B][/I] (First thing that came to my mind when he said that was "I have yet to meet man who can outsmart bullet")[/QUOTE] Very... interesting.
They can pick shit up with their goolies. No, really.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;31956747]Dolphins are also assholes.[/QUOTE] No more assholes than humans are, I'd say. To be honest it's perfectly possible that dolphins are of equal intelligence to humans, this is just something we refuse to consider because we measure intelligence in our own primate land mammal sense. Dolphins don't need to build cities or use electricity etc.
[QUOTE=Ray-The-Sun;32001455]They can pick shit up with their goolies. No, really.[/QUOTE] May as well use the prehensile penis, since they don't have prehensile fingers.
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