{"id":21020,"date":"2010-01-09T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2010-01-09T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=21020"},"modified":"2011-06-03T19:05:52","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T23:05:52","slug":"scientists-say-dolphins-should-be-treated-as-non-human-persons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/scientists-say-dolphins-should-be-treated-as-non-human-persons\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists say dolphins should be treated as non-human persons"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carol Van Strum<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a> and granted rights as individuals.<\/p>\n

“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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cReiss 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u0108apek premised his novel, War With the Newts, on the questions, \u201cIf some species other than man were to attain that level we call civilization, what do you think \u2013 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leo Szilard, inventor of nuclear fission leading to development of the atomic bomb, regretted and attempted to stop his creation for the rest of his life. In his book\u00a0The Voice of the Dolphin<\/strong><\/em> (published 1947) he created a\u00a0fictional Vienna Institute as a vehicle to allow dolphins to save us from our most insane follies.\u00a0 In the\u00a0institute,\u00a0Russian and American scientists collaborate on\u00a0a project to establish communication with dolphins, tapping their superior intelligence to resolve international conflicts and global crises.<\/p>\n

Through scientific observation, fiction, myth and even popular culture, the dolphin’s intelligence is a widely-observed phenomenon. But today’s\u00a0recommendation by Marino and Reiss takes a brave new step forward. Perhaps humility is in order as we recognize a peer in intelligence\u00a0from another species on this planet. It certainly does give one pause on how much larger-hearted and -minded\u00a0we need to be.\u00a0 It’s time, perhaps,\u00a0to re-examine\u00a0our self-concept of\u00a0dominant species\u00a0on this orb, and even our self-definition of intelligence. We need to get ready to make room for those who\u00a0could be smarter students in the classroom called earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}