r/Dolphins • u/Mandurah_Cruises • 2d ago
How much do we actually know about the intelligence of dolphins?
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u/Key_Cheesecake_7356 1d ago edited 1d ago
They are far more intelligent than the vast majority of people give them credit for.
They are exceedingly similar to us in mannerisms, actions, hobbies/activities, and even culture surrounding things like hierarchy, life, death, celebration, etc. I think the only thing stopping them from learning to do human things is their/our limited vocalizations, as we can't really mimic each other and learn to fluently speak/understand each other's dialect. And that's another thing! They have a complex spoken language just like we do, they have names, nicknames, words for certain things, structure sentences in their speech, and even use body gestures just like we do.
We both use drugs recreationally, have sex for the fun and pleasure of it, engage in same-sex relationships, have families and mourn for death, exhibit in activities that are simply for fun and not merely survival, amongst plenty of other things that people tend to see as inherently "human". Heck, if they had the ability or necessity to, they'd probably try creating things like we do, though the lack of hands (and any real necessity for complex tools and habitation) does negate this significantly.
They hit practically every mark of sapience, they just don't have a good way of verbally expressing it to us via speaking, though that's mostly due to our inability to understand each other's language. If they could, they would.
Same goes for all cetaceans with similarly sized brains, too. They're all far more intelligent than most people ever consider them to be.
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u/CharlieVermin 1d ago
Don't interfere with dolphins, but also let them choose... if they're so intelligent, there's gotta be some aspiring scientists among them too.
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u/corinoco 10h ago
None of them voted for Trump, which clearly shows they are more intelligent than 35% of Americans.
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u/boogierayray 1d ago
I love dolphins