Free Republic

Dolphins are dumber than goldfish and don't have the know-how to match a rat, but they're so pumped full of happy chemicals they probably don't care one bit, a new study suggests. For years, humans have assumed the large brains of dolphins mean the animals are highly intelligent. But a new study by Paul Manger, a brain-evolution scientist from Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand, suggests it wasn't intelligence that spurred the dolphin's big brain -- it was the cold. To survive underwater, warm-blooded marine animals developed brains that have a lot of insulating material, known as glia, but not too...

Alongside the submarines, ships and airplanes participating in large-scale military exercises in the Pacific this month, a team of sea lions and dolphins are expected to patrol the sea. These marine animals will be flown in from San Diego for simulated mine recovery and mine detection during the biennial RIMPAC war games. Six bottle-nosed dolphins would find the mines, while four California sea lions would help recover them. "There are a number of mechanical systems that work to some degree in those areas, but not as well as the Navy would like them to work," said Tom Lapuzza, spokesman for...

IT'S hard to believe those gentle, playful dolphins we all love are actually ultra-horny, dangerously jealous creatures - but Jessica Alba and Susan Sarandon can tell you it's true from personal experience. Alba learned just how sex-crazed the lovable mammals are when she filmed the 1990s "Flipper" remake. "Dolphins get excited, even when you are a human being and they have long, long," the "Sin City" hottie told MTV. ". . . I didn't know this until I was being poked by a few of them, which was very rude. I sort of requested female dolphins after that because those...