A study by marine mammal researchers at Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys reveals that dolphins cooperate to perform a tasks together.
The research, conducted in collaboration with a University of Western Australia scientist, studied pairs of dolphins swimming across a Florida Keys lagoon to reach and press black underwater buttons.
The buttons were wired to an above-surface computer to record actions and the time difference when both dolphins pushed the buttons. In some tests, the dolphins were sent together. In others, there was a delay in sending one partner.
The other would wait, so that both pressed their buttons simultaneously.
Dr. Kelly Jaakkola, Director of Research at Dolphin Research Center says:”We wanted to see if dolphins could actively cooperate. In other words, can they understand a situation where they have to work together to accomplish a task?
What’s known as “behavioral synchronization,” shown by bottlenose dolphins in the wild when they coordinate their swimming or feeding, is likely a general cognitive ability they can apply to many activities.
DRC researchers are also studying whether dolphins use vocal signals or other ways to coordinate actions. Study results were published in a biological research journal of The Royal Society, a United Kingdom-based scientific academy.
DRC researchers are also studying whether dolphins use vocal signals or other ways to coordinate actions. Study results were published in a biological research journal of The Royal Society, a United Kingdom-based scientific academy
- Florida Keys News Bureau, 20181. – AP
