FunNature & AnimalWhales and dolphins have an almost human behavior

Whales and dolphins have an almost human behavior

Whales, dolphins, and porpoises speak to each other and even have dialects by region, just like in human societies. This is one of the conclusions of the study developed by a conglomerate of international universities: the University of Manchester, the University of British Columbia, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Stanford University , which related the complexity of the culture and behavior of these cetaceans with the size of their brains.

The researchers accumulated a large data set about cetacean brain size and social behaviors. In all, they collected information on 90 different species of dolphins, whales, and porpoises, uncovering incredibly overwhelming evidence that cetaceans have sophisticated social and cooperative behavioral traits, similar to many found in human culture.

It is the first research of its kind to show that these social and cultural characteristics are related to brain size and brain expansion , also known as encephalization.

Among the human-like traits, scientists have identified the following:

-Complex alliance relationships: working together for mutual benefit.
-Social transfer of hunting techniques: teaching to hunt and use tools
-Cooperative hunting
-Complex vowels, including regional group dialects to “talk” to each other
– Exclusive vocal mime and ‘signature whistles’, using ‘nominal’ recognition
-Interspecific cooperation with humans and other species
-Aloparental care: take care of the little ones who are not yours
-Social game

“As humans, our ability to interact and cultivate social relationships has allowed us to colonize almost every ecosystem and environment on the planet. We also know whales and dolphins. They have exceptionally large and anatomically sophisticated brains and have therefore created a similar marine culture.That means that the apparent coevolution of the brains, social structure, and behavioral richness of marine mammals provides a unique and striking parallel to the large brains and hyper-sociality of humans and other primates on land. Unfortunately, they will never imitate our great metropolises and technologies because they did not evolve with opposable thumbs “, clarifies Susanne Shult, co-author of the work published by Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The experts used the data set to test the social brain hypothesis and the cultural brain hypothesis, evolutionary theories originally developed to explain large brains in primates and land mammals. They argue that large brains are an evolutionary response to complex and information-rich social environments; however, this is the first time that these hypotheses have been applied to “intelligent” marine mammals on such a large scale .

“Cetaceans have many complex social behaviors that are similar to humans and other primates. However, they have different brain structures from us, leading some researchers to argue that whales and dolphins could not achieve higher cognitive and social skills. I think our research clearly shows that this is not the case, but rather a new question arises: how can very diverse patterns of brain structure in very different species give rise to very similar cognitive and social behaviors? “Asks Kieran Fox, study co-author.

Reference: Kieran CR Fox et al, The social and cultural roots of whale and dolphin brains, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2017). DOI: 10.1038 / s41559-017-0336-y

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