Scientists decode secret language of non-human intelligence beneath Earth's oceans
A Freeper recently recommended a documentary "The Discoverers", and when when I watched it, they had a segment in it on dolphin research that really caught my eye. This is the transcript from this section of the documentary:
NARRATOR: We believe that we've provided the first convincing evidence that an animal exposed to language can understand not only what words mean but how word order changes that meaning. Dolphins can link words together. A key to intelligent thought.
DOLPHIN TRAINER: (speaking to dolphin “Akeakami” sticking its head out of the water) Yeah. Good girl.
HEAD RESEARCHER: Okay, you can play with them a bit and then we'll start the session
DOLPHIN TRAINER: Good girl! Right up! Yes! That's beautiful! Beautiful!
HEAD RESEARCHER: Okay, ready for the next sentence. We cover the dolphin trainer’s eyes so she can't give unintended messages through eye contact.
DOLPHIN: (chittering, awaiting command)
HEAD RESEARCHER: If we give the dolphin Akeakami the sequence of gestures meaning "surfboard." "person," "fetch," she understands that, she is to find the person in the tank and carry that person to the surfboard, and not the surfboard to the person.
DOLPHIN TRAINER: (giving hand signals to dolphin) Surfboard, person, fetch.
HEAD RESEARCHER: Word order makes a difference. (whistle blows)
DOLPHIN: (chittering, nods immediately to indicate it understands, and swims swiftly over to a swimmer in the water, puts her head under the swimmer, and brings her to the surfboard on the other side of the tank)
DOLPHIN TRAINER: Yay! Well done! Good girl!
DOLPHIN: (chittering)
DOLPHIN TRAINER: Good girl, good girl.
HEAD RESEARCHER: These dolphins are not just performing tricks like circus animals.
DOLPHIN TRAINER: Very good. - Get up! Up, up, up!
HEAD RESEARCHER: They were able to follow a completely new, unfamiliar instruction because they understand the language. Once we discovered this ability we asked ourselves whether dolphins could comprehend even more abstract forms of communication.
DOLPHIN: (chittering)
NARRATOR: Could a dolphin understand gestures given through TV images? Not a live trainer at tankside... But a flat, flickering image of a trainer, 12 inches high? (television showing video of trainer with hand signals telling the dolphin “Perform ‘Spiral Jump”)
DOLPHIN: (chitters to acknowledge it understands as it nods its head, then immediately swims to the surface, leaps out of the water, twisting in a spiral)
HEAD RESEARCHER: There she goes. She did it. Very good. That's correct. TRAINER: (using hand signals to dolphin) Spiral jump completed - Good girl. - Okay. That is correct. Right. Prepare for the next sentence
HEAD RESEARCHER: Send her back to station. (Trainer gives hand signal to go to station)
DOLPHIN: (chittering and nods in acknowledgement, then swims to the station where it can see the television screen underwater)
HEAD RESEARCHER: We then wondered how abstract this image could be and still be understood. We tried showing only two spheres moving about in black space, tracing out gestures as the trainer's arms and hands normally would.
TRAINER: Signal attention (to dolphin).
DOLPHIN: (chittering, then stops and stares at the video screen and awaits the command from the trainer)
TRAINER: (signaling “Hoop through” with the two spheres on the video screen which mimic the movement of her hands) Ready. Yes!
DOLPHIN: (chittering, nods in understanding, swims to the bottom of the tank and gets the hoop off the floor of the tank, stands it on end, and swims through it)
TRAINER: There you go. Good girl!
NARRATOR: To truly understand these wonderful creatures, it's not enough to teach them our idea of language we must also learn theirs. To learn how they communicate in their own world.
What really impressed me about this (as opposed to watching a gorilla like Koko respond to signs, which was slow and deliberate, or like Alex the gray parrot, who seemed like a bird doing tricks even though it wasn't) was the "dialogue" that seemed bilateral and instantaneous.
As soon as the trainer gave a command, the dolphin would chitter, not its head in understanding (it was unequivocally communicating "Okay, I understand!" and then it swam right off and unerringly performed the command. It was very interesting.
I saw a US Navy unit with a dolphin in Boston Harbor some years ago...and this documentary is old, so none of this is new. But to see it was very interesting.