Dolphin Cognition and Behavior A Comparative Approach

About this book

There is much argument over the intelligence of the marine mammals, but there is still very little literature on the subject. This text summarizes current knowledge, based on field and neurophysiological studies, of social organization and communication, perception, mimicry and language acquisition in dolphins. It reveals the dolphins' perceptual, cognitive and communicative capabilites and identifies the ecological variables that may have shaped them over evolutionary time.

Contents

I: Brain And Senses Of Dolphins
1. Evolutionary Morphology of the Dolphin Brain
2. Physiological Observations on Dolphin Brains
3. Middle- and Long-Latency Auditory Event-Related Potentials in Dolphins
4. Vision, Audition, and Chemoreception in Dolphins and Other Marine Mammals
5. Dolphin Audition and Echolocation Capacities

II: Cognition And Intelligence Of Dolphins
6. The Perceptual Worlds of Dolphins
7. How Can You Tell if an Animal is Intelligent?
8. Describing Intelligence
9. Suggestions for Research on Ethological and Comparative Cognition
10. Cognition and Language Competencies of Bottlenosed Dolphins
11. Reinforcement Training as Interspecies Communication
12. Dolphin Behavior and Cognition: Evolutionary and Ecological Aspects

III: Communication In Dolphins
13. Dolphin Vocal Mimicry and Vocal Object Labeling
14. Acquisition of Anomalous Communicatory Systems: Implications for Studies on Interspecies Communication
15. Awareness, Intentionality, and Acquired Communicative Behaviors: Dimensions of Intelligence
16. Signaling Behavior: Contributions of Different Repertoires

IV: Social Behavior And Foraging Strategies Of Dolphins
17. Delphinid Social Organization and Social Behavior
18. Delphinid Foraging Strategies
19. Social Complexity and Cooperative Behavior in Delphinids

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