WEBVTT - Day of the Dolphin 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.840 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.239 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.880 what's your opinion on dolphins? Let's just get get it out. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:25.440 What is your straightforward view on dolphins as a human female, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.320 As a human female, it makes total sense. Why, um, 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.920 there are vans that have the depiction of dolphins on 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.199 the sides of them. Now, when you put it like that, 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:41.920 dolphin vans, dolphins, right, T shirts, it all makes sense. 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:47.000 The tattoos the symbol of love and unity. Yeah, this 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.559 kind of like if you see them depicted in art 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.440 and tattoos and van murals, um and uh and gatty 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:59.160 t shirts, like they're this supernatural sea being that rises 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:04.000 up from the water to the stove, gifts on on 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.280 on on fishermen that happened to catch them in their 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.720 nets or something. It's yeah, it's really kind of strange. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:12.520 I think it's clear to say that we have an 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.840 obsession with them as humans or you know, as of 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.000 late yeah, right, And and this could be because of Flipper, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.080 which is what like nineteen sixties subtly that that show, 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.200 which sort of introduced everybody to this incredible creature. And 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.360 I think most people before that thought, oh, dolphins just 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.399 one of those you know, fish swimming around. It's not 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.000 that exciting, some sort of freaky sea mammal, you know. Yeah, 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:36.440 did not a lot of thought put into it. And 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.200 of course, part of part of this has to do 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.360 with the whole flipper craze also has its roots with 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:47.800 John C. Lily, the out there um fringy. Well, at 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:49.560 his best, he was kind of a fringe scientist and 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.000 then he just completely jumped over the fringe and took 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.400 off willy nilly into the into the bushes of of 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.360 non science. Yeah. And for a while though he was 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.760 pretty well funded um and was doing some very freaky experiments, 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.480 including flooding a house for two weeks and uh having 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.680 one of his research assistance female hole up with a dolphin. 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.840 And we we we've talked about it before. It's in fact, 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.480 we talked about it in the weirdo rock Star Lives 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.200 of Scientists, So there's much more of that there. But 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.000 but it was a period where suddenly, you know, for 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.200 all his faults, he was like, hey, dolphins are pretty 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.160 incredible creatures. And they have some really incredible characteristics and 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.600 mental Uh, they have an amazing mental capacity. Yeah, and 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.400 their mammals like us, which not you know, it's probably 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.120 not apparent to everybody at first, but um, they presided 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:39.840 me they're young for the first eight months of life. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.560 Um and and I think that we can't help but 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:48.079 find similarities between ourselves and dolphins, particularly when we think 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.919 about their language capabilities. And again this is sort of 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.880 the whole like Flipper thing John C. Lily thing. These 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.920 are the people or the ways that showed us that 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.040 that dolphins can really talk to us in a certain way. 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.360 And you think about it this way, this is pretty amazing. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.160 This is pointed out in the movie The Cove. Dolphins 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.800 can understand sign language, which okay, yeah, great, so can chimpanzees. 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:15.440 But think about this. Dolphins do not have hands fingers. 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.600 It's true, they don't. They don't even have the reference material, 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.440 which is so interesting to think that they would be 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.680 able to take all this sign language. Um and again, 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.639 which we already know we created based on our finger system, right, 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.960 and we've got the number system based on our finger system. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.400 A lot of language is based on our number system. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.880 But these guys know. Wow, so they can't type either. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.120 Like if I were to call them out on the 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.480 blogs and like talk a lot of snack dolphins are 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.360 gonna type, what are they gonna do? They're just gonna go. 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.480 They've got that brain computer interface though, so they should 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.600 be blogging soon. Oh, the the brain computer interface. Yeah, 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:56.880 we'll get to um. Yeah they are, they are. Well. 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.360 We should also mention the whole cute factor really quick, 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.400 because even though I'm not convinced that they are cute 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.720 per se, they do have that sort of freaky smile. Look, 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.680 they kind of look like they're smiling. They have a 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:09.920 permo smile. Yeah, And I tried to get to the 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.280 bottom of business here with you about this, Like what 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:13.720 it was that freaked you out about? It was the 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.159 Uncanny Valley effect. Maybe just because it's a Permo smile. 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:19.680 I mean, it's cute. How can you not know it's 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:21.640 But it's like it is kind of a permo smile. 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.200 It's kind of like the joker or something. Or it's 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.080 also it's like I've had this conversation with my wife 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.440 before about our cat where I would be like, what 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.640 would it be like if the cat could smile? Or laugh, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.240 and we both agree that would be really creepy. So 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.280 the idea of an animal smiling or even appearing like 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.760 we kind of flow with it. With dogs, I guess, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.240 not that dogs actually smile, but they kind of have, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.520 you know, when they're panting, they open their mouth and 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.800 we're like, oh, he looks happy. They got the ears 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.240 that yet it works more with them, But but with 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:51.680 the dolphin, I'm just kind of like, what's they smiling about? 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.680 What's it's? You know, what is this idea of fun 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.919 or humor? It probably doesn't line up with my idea 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.240 of fun or humor. Well, regardless of still on the 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:05.320 pantheon of cuteness next to unicorns, kittens, and horses. Yes, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:10.520 so it's uh, if we turn back the clock on 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.560 the dolphin, if we start looking at where they came from, 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.240 they of course did not come from another planet. Uh. 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.560 There there, let's go ahead and dismiss that right out. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.960 They are not um, you know, here to study us 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.200 um and report back to the mothership. But they did 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:30.560 evolve from um other forms of life, as everything else has. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.240 And if you do you turn back the clock current, 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.520 according to current studies, you end up with a very 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.880 strange looking creature that I will I'll either put a 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.359 picture of this on the accompanying blog post for this 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:45.039 podcast or for this episode, or I will um, I'll 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:46.680 embed it or something just so you can see it. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:52.080 Because the the earlier form of life that modern dolphins 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:57.080 evolved from looks kind of like a uh, how do 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.240 it describe the Yes, the opposite A cute kind of 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:04.080 like a hyena hippo, Like a hyena hip and a 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.159 hippo had a baby, and that baby like had some 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.520 plastic surgery done when it grew up. It's a look 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.840 more like an alligator. Yeah, I can I see that. 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.159 There's like the head has the features of the hippo 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.400 sort of around the eyes and in the cheekbones if 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:18.599 you could say that they don't know that they have 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:20.679 cheek bones. Um, but yeah, the rest of the body 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.920 sort of looks like an alligator. Yeah. If they had 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.760 had like chicken coops forty eight million years ago, this 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:27.960 thing looks like it would just eat chickens NonStop. Like 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.240 there's something kind of fox like about it. Yeah, And 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:32.640 it's surprising when you think about the dolphin today, which 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.000 is sleek and I won't say cuddly, because they're not cuddly, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.599 but they're playful. And again they've got the permo smile. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:39.880 This is the opposite of that. Yeah, this is kind 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:41.880 of have the more of a sort of a perma 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:47.720 snarl going on. And uh so this creature again forty 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.359 eight million years ago, it would have been a semi 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:55.520 aquatic herbivore um with the name the end or something 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.320 like that. Yeah, endoyas let's call it called that. And 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.040 it was actually a related to the hippo. I mean, 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.960 the hippo is a is a fairly close evolutionary relative 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:12.520 to all cessations. Yeah, and uh, I mean this is 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.160 this is the group of of the hoof first, I 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.480 guess you could say, right, the hoof ones and um. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.480 As a result of this information, um, and this is 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.480 the best gas right too. We don't have Yeah, we 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.800 all just based on theory. Yeah, but some people have said, oh, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.680 they've evolved from dogs. This is not true. You'll see 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.920 that sometimes, um, you know obviously on the internet out there. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.600 But because you know of their connection with rhinos um 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.920 and and you know obviously like an alligators as well, 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.440 this you know, you see some similarities in terms of 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:46.240 starting out as being a shallow waters forager. This is 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.120 this is what the dolphin was doing, hanging out, you know, 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.680 beach cheer in the water. And then you know, throughout 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.400 the years became a bit of a more sleeker version 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.200 of this self, right as as natural selection kicked then 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.960 and uh what in the the more aquatic variations were 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.480 the ones that survived. Yeah, but we should probably talk 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.679 a little bit more too about the features of dolphins. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:15.680 They bill anticetations right along with porpoises and whales, and um, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.760 these guys can measure as long as thirteen feet in 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.520 weigh one thousand pounds, so they can get up there. Um, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.840 they come superficially resemble fishes we've talked about. They are 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.840 mammals um, and they travel and pods of up to 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.440 a dozen dolphins, which is interesting because this is the 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.840 sort of community that they're in. It's not just that 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.360 they're hanging out that this is usually their families that 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.520 they're traveling along with. And we'll talk a little bit 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.760 more about that later and how it's sort of um 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.800 makes us better understand them as being social creatures like us. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.760 And uh, they have pretty big brains too. Yeah, based 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:52.840 on m R. I scans, we can you know, we've 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:54.880 really been able to get in there and go elbow 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.640 deep into these fantastic delphin dolphin brains and uh, they're 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.280 they're big relative to their body size, and they have 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:08.520 a highly convoluted neo cortex, which is a structure that 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:13.240 also allows for self awareness, processing of complex emotions, and 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.840 they we we tend to see their U. The evolution 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:22.520 of the dolphin brain um as its occurring in various 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.160 growth spurts throughout history, Like the first big jump would 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.360 have happened about thirty nine million years ago, and this 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.520 is when you had primitive dolphins that have you know, 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.600 they've they've they've diverged, they've shot off, they're they're living 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.360 it up in the water. And uh, this is around 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:42.439 the time that echolocation became really big. And yeah, I 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.280 think of bats, except it's you know, it's a it's 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.680 a little more complex than that. But they're using sound 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.840 to see things, using sound to hunt. And we've observed 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.960 some remarkable um examples of this, of of them using 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.240 it to to track prey and actually sort of heard 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:02.319 them in UM. It's U really incredible. It's very sophisticated. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.320 So now or basically Yeah, there's actually one study that 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.960 they had a couple of dolphins and um, it was 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.240 predicated basically on them being able to get some fish. 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.480 So each of them had to hit a letter on 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.600 the right or left and they had to mimic each 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.760 other and then they'd get the fish. They'd be rewarded 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.400 with that. Well, they did that over and over again, 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.000 and then they did it in different rooms where they 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.719 couldn't see each other, and finally they did it to 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.400 the point where they could only hear each other. And again, 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:32.520 if the other dolphin does not hit the correct button, 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.720 then they're not going to get the fish. And so 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:39.160 what they observed is that even in another room that 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.800 they would hear the dolphins say something to the other dolphin, 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.560 which then was construted as hey hit the left lever, buddy, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.559 or something along this line, so we can get this fish. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.200 And in fact, they would do this over and over again. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.880 And it just shows you that the power of echo 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:59.520 location is for them, um, so incredible and used in 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.880 ways that you know, they could particularly just be sort 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.440 of blind and be able to see using this sonar 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.560 and um, you also draw dragged in the social uh 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:16.160 connotation there because that was another evolutionary spurt in brain 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.360 size that occurred they think about fifteen million years ago 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.280 as they developed a more social lifestyle and uh and 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.439 social interactions that takes a fair amount of brain power. 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.520 So the brain again began to grow inside become became 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.360 more complex as they had to us as the dolphins 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:40.040 that were better capable of navigating uh, their social structure 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:43.400 were the ones to survive and become the species. Yeah, 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.600 we know in humans too that we develop our neo 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.520 cortex in part as a way to to deal with 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.760 our social situations, including parenting. And again there's another parallel 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.160 because you do see dolphins staying with your young for 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.160 two three years raising them, and again there's a whole 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.640 feeding thing for eight months at the very big and 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.839 then traveling as a family. Yeah, you'll typically see the 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.000 vacation spots. Um. They're always kind of loud though, because 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.559 they're they're taking photos and yeah, yeah, I know, the 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:16.600 loud shirts. What are you gonna do? Um? But you know, 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.439 so that's that's a I think, just a little glimpse 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.760 of their intelligence. Um. And again there their brain size 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.959 that second only to humans, so they trump everybody else 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.720 in terms of brain size umnix for us. Yeah, but 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:34.280 we don't use the echolocation to find things. So true true, 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.120 and we should say to that a lot of their 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:40.800 brain is uh, that brain space is committed for echolocation, right, 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.400 that's why one of the reasons why it's so large. Yeah, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.240 it's one of these intruations we get into and looking 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.719 at any species though where in analyzing an animals intelligence, 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.400 you all, we always inevitably fall back on the human model. 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:56.640 So just because because one animal, the human is capable 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.440 of reading Moby dick and uh and the doll and isn't, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.720 doesn't mean that the dolphin is stupid. It's just a 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.280 different type of intelligence, right, I mean and and and 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.120 actually Mobi dick, right, I mean one could be reading it, 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.960 the other could be just you know, terrorizing ships, right. 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.240 And I mean that's interesting that you bring up what 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.520 is intelligence because we've talked about it before. We've talked 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.880 about it is pattern recognition and the ability to try 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:22.120 to predict the future and pre plan And you see 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.679 this in dolphins again and again. We've talked about this 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.800 before about dolphins using sponges on the tips of their 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.880 noses to forage on the ocean floor. And the reason 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:32.800 they do that is so that in case there's some 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.559 sort of creature there, it doesn't like snap out at 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.400 them and uh you know, scar them or take a 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.840 chunk of skin off, and it allows them to kind 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.320 of see where the creatures are without getting hurt. And 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.079 obviously this takes pre planning. Yeah, I mean, it's too 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:50.880 of you. So it's a it's a fairly advanced technique. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.760 And there's another and good example I really like this 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.199 is from dolphin researcher Peter Rand Folkins. Uh. He tells 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.640 the story of out how Marine World Africa, USA. They 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.280 had trained the dolphins to retrieve trash and bring it 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.560 to the trainer and then they get a reward fish 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.080 of course. And um, what they saw is that the 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.160 dolphins would clean up the area spick and span, and 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.960 yet pieces of trash they would still find and bring 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.560 up to the trainer and get their fish. And so 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:24.520 they were saying, I have this as possible. This area 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.080 is completely clean. And what they had found is that 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.840 one dolphin had begun to put a stash of um 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.120 trash into this little trash bag that was on the 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:39.240 side that and how incredible was that that the dolphin 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.560 actually planned for that saw the trash bag and was like, Um, 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.760 that's gonna be my storehouse. That's going to make sure 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.280 that I am always knee deep in fish. Well, you know, 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.600 this gets us into the area of more into the 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.600 area of what can we have make dolphins do, which 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.560 after this brief break, we're going to discuss in detail. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:05.320 This presentation is brought to you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow. 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.240 All right, so we're back and let's talk about what 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.040 dolphins can do for us because as humans, you know, 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.360 recognizing an animal and animals intelligence is great, but can 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.960 we use it to fight wars or to do work 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.360 that we don't want to do? I mean, sadly, a 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.640 lot of it comes down to that, or or even 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.520 what can it do to entertain me? Yeah? I know, 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.880 I'm I'm just thinking that one respect. They're really lucky 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.800 that they are no longer really dwelling animals and they're 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.080 in the water, because we probably would have them on 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.240 trash detail a lot of the highways. I can picture 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:47.560 them in their little orange jumpsuits. Um well, one of 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.920 the the the first efforts to make or well convinced 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:54.760 I don't know. It depends how you look at it. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.760 Dolphins to do thanks for us UM back in Sea 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.160 Lab two, which we discussed in our Life Aquatic podcast. 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.840 This was UM at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:11.360 and this was an underwater laboratory environment. Uh, most of 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.120 the tests they were doing that we're just figuring out, Hey, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.200 can people work, um, say, at a depth of two 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.440 feet for thirty straight days? Can they you know, can 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.400 they can they carry out experiments? Are they gonna go 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.000 crazy or become sick? Yeah? It was human centric, Yeah, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.240 very very human centric. They also experiment with the trained 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.960 por porpoise named Toufee to do courier work between the 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.400 habitat um on the ocean floor and the surface, and 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:39.320 instead of using a hose to provide the humans with 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.280 the all the supplies from the surface, the Navy sometimes 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:46.520 used toughie to bring things down, things like male tools 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.800 and even bottles of soda. So I'm not saying it 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.800 wasn't kind of demeaning to the dolphin, but um, but 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.720 it was based in pure research saying it was sort 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.800 of beyond what they should have been doing, or well, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.200 I mean they should have been doing like watercolors. Well, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.720 well it gets weirder when you when you start looking 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.480 at with the the name because in you know, the U. S. 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.600 Navy was more into like, all right, well they can 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.480 fetch a soda, but can they do things we actually 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.480 need them to do. Because we can get soda, we 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.240 can we can provide soda for our submarine. Right, we 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.520 can do that. But they do give them to find 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.560 explosive minds, right, yeah, so that was a big deal 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.440 in the sixties. Um mind sweeping. Yeah. They weren't disarming mines. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.840 They weren't going down like you know, bread busting it 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.280 open and finding blue wires and red wires or anything 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.920 like that because again no hands. But they did teach 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.640 them how to how to find the mines and then 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.080 they would reward them with with a you know, a 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.080 nice fish treat. Have you ever seen a clue here? 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:46.760 Fish really big In the dolphin world, Yeah, yeah. Another example, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.600 and this is again the US Navy is uh and 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.320 this is from Slate dot Com and The Tail and 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.600 the Dolphin by Daniel Anger. Um it is quote. Dolphins 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:56.720 and sea lions are also trained to use bite plate 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.440 systems to mark or capture water borne intruders. When they 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.679 spot an enemy diver underwater, they can poke them with 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.960 a bite plate to release a strobe light beacon, presumably 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.080 so someone can find that person. And they might also 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.560 carry c shaped clamps that snaps shut on a diver's leg. 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.840 Once a dolphin cuffs the diver, it turns back to 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.639 its hamler with a tether line. Oh my goodness, can 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.159 you imagine getting cuffed by a dolphin? Yeah, it's like 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.280 Miami Vice there. I mean, it's uh, it's amazing, it is. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:28.439 I mean about the only thing more amazing is if 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:32.080 the tether were actually attached to the dolphin, right, Yeah, yeah, 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:33.560 that's true, and they could just bring them in and 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.000 they had a little dolphin car and yeah, but I 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:37.800 like the idea that because you don't want the dolphin 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:39.480 then to go rogue and like just drag the person 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.199 out to see you want him to hand him over 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.920 to the authorities. Now, but human authority. It's true, Yeah, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.520 it's true. You know who knows what they're capable? Evenue. 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:48.399 It makes me think of The Onion, which has a 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.600 couple of very funny dolphin headlines, but one of them 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:56.880 is dolphins develop opposable thumbs and the whole article, which 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.000 is kind of funny, but actually the article is hilarious. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:02.240 It talks about how now that they have a postable thombs, 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:06.840 humans are toast. Yeah, they're gonna take us over. They're 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:08.520 like I said, if they were to have hands, it's 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:11.040 like who knows exactly what they want? Um, because we 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.680 can't talk to them and talk to him. Yes, this 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.080 is this is really interesting. Um. So if you go 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.040 back to the nineties, you had this guy named Lewis 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:25.640 Herman and he worked at the uh Kualo Basin Marine 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.680 Mammal Laboratory in Honolulu, and uh he discovered the bottom 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:31.600 of those dolphins can keep track of over a hundred 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.000 different words, and they can. They can they can roll 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.840 with different commands that use these words in different forms 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.960 like the The example that I ran across was like fristance. 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:43.760 You should be able to say, hey, can you bring 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.919 that surfboard to me? And they would understand that, and 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.439 then they would equally understand hey can you bring me 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.719 to that surfboard? Which the difference is obvious to us, 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.159 but we're talking about I mean, the English isn't a 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:59.199 second language, like language is the second language for the dolphin. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.280 You know, I think if you're trying to learn German 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.080 and how difficult that is because the placement affords and 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.800 I'm doing it as an as a dolphin, right yea, 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.720 with several languages, because your trainer could be German, right yeah, 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:16.239 and really fascinating. Um is this more recent approach and 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:18.639 one of one of them. This is mainly a dolphin 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:23.320 researcher by the name of Denise Herzing, and she's collaborating 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.919 with Thad Starner, who's an artificial intelligence researcher at the 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:32.879 Atlanta Zone, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the projects called 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:38.119 Cessation Hearing and Telemetry or CHAT. I think maybe they 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.439 can chat first. I don't know, I'm just stand but basically, 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.000 the the the ideas really neat here. It's all right, 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.440 so dolphins kind of had they have their own language. 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:48.840 And I'm doing quote marks with my fingers because it's 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.040 this is a whole different discussion about what constitutes a 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.320 language and all. But they have they can clearly um 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:59.440 communicate via sound. They use sound in very clever ways 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.440 and often in way that we can't even fully understands, 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.600 Like they they can produce sounds that frequencies up to 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.840 two kiloherts, around ten times as high as the highest 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:11.440 pitch that a human can hear, and in so many 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.320 different directions to you, right, which makes it again hard 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:18.400 to sort of tag what that vocalization might mean because 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.000 you don't really know as humans, we don't really know 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.480 what it's being directed to. Yeah, they occupy just a 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:27.040 different sonic landscape than we do as a species. So 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.440 while the past effort was let's teach them some human language, 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.680 you know, and then that met met with very limited success, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.040 and we haven't made a lot of strides towards understanding 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:38.760