By Carol Van Strum
In what seems to be a step forward in scientific thought, behavioral, linguistic, and zoological studies suggest that the exceptional intelligence, brain structure, and complex individual and social behavior of bottlenose and other dolphin species qualify them to be treated as non-human persons and granted rights as individuals.
“The behavioral studies showed dolphins (especially the bottlenose) have distinct personalities and self-awareness, and they can think about the future. The research also confirmed dolphins have complex social structures, with individuals co-operating to solve difficult problems or to round up shoals of fish to eat, and with new behaviors being passed from one dolphin to another.”
Professor of psychology at City University of New York, Diana Reiss, who has shown dolphins capable of learning symbolic language, will present her findings at a conference in San Diego, California next month, along with zoologist Lori Marino from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “Reiss and Marino say their behavioral and anatomical findings and our new understanding of dolphin intelligence mean it may not be ethical to keep dolphins in aquatic amusement parks for our entertainment, or to kill them for food.”
The very idea triggers blasts of horror from ego-centric humans (see the comments after the physorg article in the link), but actually it is not new. As far back as 1936, Karl Ĉapek premised his novel, War With the Newts, on the questions, “If some species other than man were to attain that level we call civilization, what do you think – would it do the same stupid things mankind has done? ….What would we say if some animal other than man declared that its education and its numbers gave it the sole right to occupy the entire world and hold sway over all creation?”