The Dolphin in the Mirror (38 page)

This year, the delegation grew into a larger consortium of internationally renowned marine scientists and zoo and aquarium professionals comprised of Karen Sausman, President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Dr. Diana Reiss, Senior Research Scientist of the New York Aquarium of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Dr. Paul Boyle, Director of the New York Aquarium of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Dr. Lori Marino, Emory University, Dr. Sam H. Ridgway, University of California, San Diego, Dr. Louis M. Herman, University of Hawaii, Dr. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University, Dr. William E. Evans, University of Notre Dame, former chair of the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, and Steve Olson, Director of Government Affairs for the AZA held a press conference on Wednesday, July 19, at National Press Club in Washington D.C. in which they reported scientific and ethical justification for ending dolphin drive hunts. Over 300 marine scientists have signed a statement saying that the hunts are an astonishingly cruel violation of any reasonable welfare standards and should end immediately. Numerous studies on the cognitive abilities, cultural richness, and above all, the capacity of dolphins to experience pain and suffering, mandate that the Japanese government should ban the hunts, which take place every year in the villages of Taiji and Futo. U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) also introduced a Congressional Resolution to the Senate last year condemning this practice.

The goal now is for a small delegation of marine scientists and zoo and aquarium professionals to meet with the Prime Minister of Japan and other government officials in Japan to provide them with the scientific evidence and ethical justification for ending the drives immediately. The consortium has started a global petition to gather one million signatures calling for the end to the dolphin drive hunts, which is listed on the Ocean Project Website at
www.actfordolphins.org
.

1.
MINDS IN THE WATER

1. See Natalia Burns, ed.,
Lore of the Dolphin
(Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words Publishing, 2002), 7–10.

2. Ibid., 5–6.

3. See, for instance, Scott Taylor,
Souls in the Sea
(Berkeley, CA: Frog, Ltd., 2003).

4. See, for instance, Antony Alpers,
Dolphins: The Myth and the Mammal
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961), 6–9.

5. Ibid., 11–12.

6. Ibid., 13.

7. Ibid., 14.

8. Ibid., 15.

9. Ashley Montagu and John C. Lilly,
The Dolphin in History
(Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1963), 3–21.

2.
FIRST INSIGHTS

1. John Lilly,
Lilly on Dolphins—Humans of the Sea
(New York: Anchor Press, 1975), vii.

2. Gregory Bateson,
Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity
(New York: Dutton, 1979).

3. Diana Reiss,
Pragmatics of Human-Dolphin Communication
(PhD thesis, Temple University, 1983).

3.
IN SEARCH OF THE DOLPHIN ROSETTA STONE

1. Marc Bekoff,
Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 47.

2. N. Wade, "Does Man Alone Have Language?"
Science
208 (June 1980): 1349.

3. Diana Reiss, "The Dolphin: An Alien Intelligence," in
First Contact
, eds. Ben Bova and Byron Preiss (New York: NAL Books, 1990), 32–41.

4. Brenda McCowan and Diana Reiss, "Social Familiarity Influences Whistle Acoustic Structure in Adult Female Bottlenose Dolphins,"
Aquatic Mammals
24: 27–40.

5. Diana Reiss and Brenda McCowan, "Spontaneous Vocal Mimicry and Production by Bottlenose Dolphins (
Tursiops truncatus
): Evidence for Vocal Learning,"
Journal of Comparative Psychology
107 (1993): 301–12.

6. Ibid., 309.

4.
NONTERRESTRIAL THINKERS

1. Reiss, "The Dolphin: An Alien Intelligence," 32–41.

2. Ken Marten et al., "Ring Bubbles of Dolphins,"
Scientific American
(August 1996): 85.

3. Ibid., 86.

4. Ibid.

5. Brenda McCowan et al., "Bubble Ring Play of Bottlenose Dolphins (
Tursiops truncatus
): Implications for Cognition,"
Journal of Comparative Psychology
114 (2000): 98–106.

6. Rachel Smolker,
To Touch a Wild Dolphin
(New York: Anchor Books, 2002), 106.

7. Janet Mann et al., "Why Do Dolphins Carry Sponges?"
PLoS One
3 (December 2008): 2.

8. Ibid., 3.

9. Michael Krützen et al., "Cultural Transmission of Tool Use in Bottlenose Dolphins,"
PNAS
102 (2005): 8939–43.

10. J. S. Lewis and W. W. Schroeder, "Mud Plume Feeding: A Unique Foraging Behavior of the Bottlenose Dolphin in the Florida Keys,"
Gulf of Mexico Science
1 (2003): 92–97.

11. R. G. Busnel, "Symbiotic Relationship between Man and Dolphins,"
Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences
35 (1973): 112–31.

12. K. W. Pryor and J. Lindbergh, "A Dolphin-Human Fishing Cooperative in Brazil,"
Marine Mammal Science
6 (1990): 77–82.

13. C. K. Tayler and G. S. Saayman, "Imitative Behavior by Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins in Captivity,"
Behavior
44 (1973): 286–98.

14. James Shreeve, "Machiavellian Monkeys,"
Discover
(June 1991): 70; Stephen Jay Gould and Elizabeth S. Vrba, "Exaptation—A Missing Term in the Science of Form,"
Paleobiology
8 (1982): 4–15.

5.
THE FACE IN THE MIRROR

1. Luke Rendell and Hal Whitehead, "Culture in Whales and Dolphins,"
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
24 (2001): 309–24.

2. Nathan W. Bailey and Marlene Zuk, "Same-Sex Sexual Behavior and Evolution,"
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
24 (2009): 439–46.

3. Gordon G. Gallup Jr., "Chimpanzees: Self-Recognition,"
Science
167 (1970): 86–87.

4. Charles Darwin, letter to S. E. Darwin, April 1, 1838.

5. Gallup, "Chimpanzees," 86.

6. Ibid., 87.

7. Gordon Gallup Jr., "Self-Awareness and the Emergence of Mind in Primates,"
American Journal of Primatology
2 (1982): 237–48.

8. Lori Marino, Diana Reiss, and Gordon Gallup Jr., "Mirror Self-Recognition in Bottlenose Dolphins: Implications for Comparative Investigations of Highly Dissimilar Species," in
Self-Awareness in Animals and Humans,
eds. S. T. Parker, R. Mitchell, and M. Boccia (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 380–91.

9. Ken Marten and S. Psarakos, "Evidence of Self-Awareness in the Bottle-Nose Dolphin," in ibid., 361–79.

6.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

1. Diana Reiss and Lori Marino, "Mirror Self-Recognition in the Bottlenose Dolphin: A Case of Cognitive Convergence,"
PNAS
98 (2001): 5942.

2. Ibid., 5937.

3. Philip Yam, "The Flipper Effect,"
Scientific American
285 (July 2001): 29.

7.
COGNITIVE COUSINS

1. Tayler and Saayman, "Imitative Behavior by Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins in Captivity,"
Behavior
44 (1973): 290.

2. Ibid., 291.

3. Andrew Whiten, "Imitation and Cultural Transmission in Apes and Cetaceans,"
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
24 (2001): 360.

4. W. R. Ashby,
An Introduction to Cybernetics
(London: Chapman and Hall, 1956).

5. Charles T. Snowdon, "Review of
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think,
by Marc Hauser,"
Natural History
(March 2000).

6. Douglas Adams,
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
(1979; repr., New York: Ballantine Books, 2009), 141.

7. H. Jerison, "Animal Intelligence as Encephalization,"
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences
308 (1985): 21–35.

8. Lori Marino, "A Comparison of Encephalization between Odontocete Cetaceans and Anthropoid Primates,"
Brain, Behavior, and Evolution
51 (1998): 230–38.

9. Suzana Herculano-Houzel, "The Human Brain in Numbers: A Linearly Scaled-Up Primate Brain,"
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
3 (2009): 31, doi:10.3389/neuro.09.031.2009.

10. C. Butti et al., "Total Number and Volume of Von Economo Neurons in the Cerebral Cortex of Cetaceans,"
Journal of Comparative Neurology
515 (2009): 243–59.

11. Kenneth Oakley,
Man the Tool-Maker
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959).

12. Irven DeVore and Richard Lee, eds.,
Man the Hunter
(Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1969).

13. Nancy Tanner and Adrienne Zihlman, "Women in Evolution, Part I,"
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
1 (1976): 600.

14. Nicholas K. Humphrey, "The Social Function of Intellect," in
Growing Points in Ethology,
eds. P. P. G. Bateson and R. A. Hinde, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 303.

15. Ibid., 307.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid., 309.

18. Ibid., 311.

19. Richard C. Connor, Jana J. Watson-Capps, William B. Sherwin, and Michael Krützen, "A New Level of Complexity in the Male Alliance Networks of Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphins (
Tursiops
sp.),"
Biology Letters
(November 3, 2010): doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0852.

20. Nicholas Humphrey, "Consciousness: A Just-So Story,"
New Scientist
(August 1982): 475.

21. David Premack and Guy Woodruff, "Do Chimpanzees Have a Theory of Mind?"
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
1 (1978): 515–26.

22. Louis Herman, "Exploring the Cognitive World of the Bottlenosed Dolphin," in
The Cognitive Animal,
eds.
M. Bekoff et al., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002), 275–83.

23. Joshua M. Plotnik et al., "Self-Recognition in an Asian Elephant,"
PNAS
103 (2006): 17053–57.

8.
REFLECTIONS ON DOLPHIN MINDS

1. M. C. Caldwell and D. K. Caldwell, "Epimeletic (Caregiving) Behavior in Cetacea," in
Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises,
ed. K. S. Norris, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1966), 767.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., 773.

4. Ibid., 772.

5. "Dolphins Find Missing Sailor,"
Cruising World,
March 1998, 10–11.

6. Maddalena Bearzi and Craig B. Stanford,
Beautiful Minds
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 25.

7. Ibid., 26.

8. Gordon Gallup, "Can Animals Empathize? Yes,"
Scientific American
Presents
(Winter 1998): 68.

9. Frans de Waal,
The Age of Empathy
(New York: Three Rivers Press, 2009), 90.

10. Daniel Povinelli, "Can Animals Empathize? Maybe Not,"
Scientific American
Presents
(Winter 1998): 67.

11. Ibid., 75.

12. Peter Fimrite, "Daring Rescue of Whale off Farallones,"
San Francisco Chronicle,
December 14, 2005.

9.
INTO THE COVE

1. Boyd Harnell, "‘Secret' Dolphin Slaughter Defies Protests,"
Japan Times,
November 30, 2005.

2. Ibid.

3. Hiroko Tabuchi, "From Sea to Supermarket: Harrowing Look at Hunts,"
New York Times,
October 23, 2009.

10.
ENDING THE LONG LONELINESS

1. Loren Eiseley, "Magic," in
Notes of an Alchemist
(New York: Charles Scribner, 1972), 65–69.

2. E. O. Wilson,
Biophilia
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), 139.

3. Loren Eiseley, "The Long Loneliness," in
The Star Thrower
(New York: Harcourt, 1978), 37–44.

4. Ibid., 37.

5. Roger Lewin, "I Buzz Therefore I Think,"
New Scientist
1908 (January 15, 1994): 30.

6. Donald Griffin, "From Cognition to Consciousness,"
Animal Cognition
1 (1998): 5.

Writing this book has conjured up vivid memories of so many who have encouraged, helped, and supported me along the way.There are so many friends, colleagues and mentors to thank.

As a graduate student, sticking my foot into the waters for the first time, John Lilly and Betty Brothers gave me rare opportunities and I thank them for their generosity. My thanks to my graduate advisor Dennis Smith, whose conversations on communication theory and symbolism were so inspiring. I am deeply grateful to my mentors and dear friends Professors Rene-Guy and Marie-Claire Busnel for their endless encouragement and friendship and for teaching me about bioacoustics and French life.

Much of the work reported in this book would not have been possible without the amazing group of graduate, undergraduate students and volunteers who worked on Project Circe at Marine World. A special thanks to Brenda McCowan, Bill Baldwin, Laura Edenborough, Bruce Silverman, Denise Herzing, Cara Gubbins, Stacie Hooper, Spencer Lyn, and Jim Mullen and the marine mammal training staff. The lab would not have been possible without the support of Michael and Patty Demetrios, the Andersen Family Foundation, the Ampex Corporation, the Planetary Society, and Terry Kelly of the U S Geological Survey. I want to specifically acknowledge and thank the late Barney Oliver of the Hewlett Packard Corporation and the SETI program for his friendship and early support of Project Circe.

My lab at the Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium would not have been possible without the ongoing support and encouragement of many people. My sincerest thanks and admiration go to Paul Boyle (then director of the New York Aquarium) for his unwavering support of my research and his shared vision to save dolphins from the dolphin drives in Japan. My special thanks to Katie and Peter Dolan, Brian and Darlene Heidtke, and the City Council of New York, for their support of the research. I want to also thank Cynthia Reich, Richard Lattis and William Conway, for all of their help, support, and wise words over the years. A special thanks to Martha Hiatt and the rest of the marine mammal staff at the New York Aquarium for their assistance in the MSR study and who were part of the "larger team."