Comments on: Dolphins caught on film making art and doing science.

Dolphins caught on film making art and doing science.

Toekneesan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:51:07 -0800

Dolphins at SeaWorld Orlando make and play with bubble rings. Others learn by watching. (SLYP) via

Checkout the related videos on the right to see other examples of this behavior.

By: francesca too

francesca too — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:19:59 -0800

I love the last scene, when the dolphin pops the small ring into the mouth

By: JHarris

JHarris — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:26:09 -0800

That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

By: yiftach

yiftach — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:36:36 -0800

Insanely cool, if unsurprising. I've always considered So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish to be nonfiction.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:38:57 -0800

Saw this on Andy Sullivan. So cool how they take the larger ring, and 'clip' it to make a smaller and more perfectly circular ring. I guess in the water, with no pockets, you have to make what toys you have.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:12:57 -0800

By: DU

DU — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:34:01 -0800

What. How.

By: Alex404

Alex404 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:34:28 -0800

Definitely worth watching.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:41:01 -0800

Also: In your face, BF Skinner!

By: Nick Verstayne

Nick Verstayne — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:11:45 -0800

Damn! They had a good season last year with Chad Pennington. Wait, wha?

By: SkinnerSan

SkinnerSan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:24:14 -0800

I hate to be a complete treehugger, but does anyone else get a little queasy watching this? I mean, how intelligent does an animal have to be before we say it's not right to keep it in a cage? That's actually a real question, not a turn of phrase. When I see most animals in a zoo, I think that they don't know enough for me to care if they want to be there or not. But those dolphins, unless those tricks were secretly taught to them by humans, are pretty smart on my stupid to smart scale. Am I being smartist?

By: Houstonian

Houstonian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:35:49 -0800

SkinnerSan, quite a few years ago on Scientific American Frontiers, they had a show about dolphins. Alan Alda was the host of the show, and they explored how dolphins could recognize themselves in a mirror. It seems they are self-aware. I had just the same response that you did with this.

By: digsrus

digsrus — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:51:59 -0800

Intelligent? You fools, they're carrying out tokamak nuclear fusion experiments! Call the governor and evacuate Florida before its too late!

By: Geckwoistmeinauto

Geckwoistmeinauto — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:54:30 -0800

I'll be impressed when the dolphins smoke a pipe and blow smoke rings. That would be awesome. Or maybe one of those cigarette holders. With a monocle.

By: jtoth

jtoth — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:12:25 -0800

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

By: jtoth

jtoth — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:18:06 -0800

Sure, I should have read the comment thread more closely but yeah, I stand by my first response.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:42:52 -0800

...Dude. Just....dude. .....Dude.

By: danapiper

danapiper — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:34:09 -0800

If you think that's cool, you should see how they entertain themselves in the wild when they have all sorts of other critters around to harass. I've heard stories from colleagues about them passing octopus back and forth in what looked like a game of "Keep Away." Would hate to be that octopus... SkinnerSan and Houstonian: Don't get too queasy. I find myself a bit uneasy to see these guys behind glass sometimes too, but know that most dolphins in captivity today were born there and know no other life - and the experiences and knowledge that we humble humans gain from being able to observe them like this is immeasurable. These guys have some serious brain power going on - the self-recognition experiments, language and gesture understanding... there are so many more examples I could cite, all helping us understand exactly how intelligent they are (but then we could ask What is intelligance and who are we to measure it?). So I hate to say its "for the greater good" but it would do no good to release them, intelligent or not. Truth is these captive animals wouldn't survive a week in the wild. All we can hope for is good facilities that recognize the need for proper care. And more cool videos.