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Justin Gregg is a research associate with the Dolphin Communication Project, and Co-Editor of the academic journal Aquatic Mammals. He received his doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in 2008, having studied social cognition and the echolocation behavior of wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. With an undergraduate background in linguistics, Justin is particularly interested in the study of dolphin communication as it pertains to comparisons of human (natural) language and animal communication systems.
Are Dolphins Really Smart?: The mammal behind the myth
by Justin Gregg
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$12.99
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ISBN-13:
9780191636035
- Publisher: OUP Oxford
- Publication date: 09/26/2013
- Sold by: Barnes & Noble
- Format: eBook
- File size: 2 MB
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How intelligent are dolphins? Is their communication system really as complex as human language? And are they as friendly and peaceful as they are made out to be? The Western world has had an enduring love affair with dolphins since the early 1960s, with fanciful claims of their 'healing powers' and 'super intelligence'. Myths and pseudoscience abound on the subject. Justin Gregg weighs up the claims made about dolphin intelligence and separates scientific fact from fiction. He puts our knowledge about dolphin behaviour and intelligence into perspective, with comparisons to scientific studies of other animals, especially the crow family and great apes. He gives fascinating accounts of the challenges of testing what an animal with flippers and no facial expressions might be animal behaviour, Gregg challenges many of the widespread beliefs about dolphins, while also inspiring the reader with the remarkable abilities common to many of the less glamorized animals around us - such as chickens.
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Publishers Weekly
09/09/2013Gregg, described as a “spokesperson for mainstream science,” and co-editor of Aquatic Mammals, analyzes the state of scientific research on dolphin cognition—alongside other notable species such as apes, corvids, and bees—to address the mystique arising from John Lilly’s writings about dolphin intelligence, which inspired some organizations to push for legal cetacean personhood. Gregg argues that defining an animal’s intelligence as a single metric is an unscientific attempt to fit behaviors into a human-like model. He prefers operational definitions of specific cognitive tasks, which allow us to acknowledge limited skills, such as facial recognition abilities among sheep. Gregg dismisses brain size or the possession of specific biological structures as indicators of complex cognition, and highlights difficulties in test design for understanding a theory of mind, including the mirror self-recognition test. Defining language in terms of parameters like limitless expression and arbitrariness of symbols, Gregg shows that, like chimpanzees, dolphins have communication systems with some sophisticated characteristics, but which do not approach the complexity of human language. Finally, Gregg addresses the myth of dolphins as gentle creatures, highlighting aggressive behaviors and infanticide in the wild, leaving readers with a sense of dolphins as fascinating creatures, but not ones to put on a pedestal for wisdom, ethics, or nearness to the human experience. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
"In this thorough and engaging report on contemporary cetacean science, "Aquatic Mammals" coeditor and dolphin researcher Gregg separates the myths from the realities about these grinning SeaWorld stars." —Booklist"The title of this book, "Are Dolphins Really Smart?", does not really do justice to the thorough investigation of dolphin behavior that follows... Many animals have specialized cognitive abilities and all, as he says, "lead equally as wondrous and worthy lives"; his carefully constructed exposition leads readers gently to this conclusion... Highly recommended." —Choice
"Eschewing the pervasive and nonscientific popular opinions regarding dolphin intelligence, playfulness, and peacefulness, Gregg instead dissects the scientific literature on dolphin behavior. The picture that emerges is something less flattering than Flipper, but one that serves as both a rigorous litmus test of animal intelligence and a check on human exceptionalism." —The Scientist
"The logic and writing are superb, the flow is easy enough to be read by bright inquisitive teenagers, and yet detailed and insightful enough for seasoned behavioral researchers... Open-minded readers will come away with a heightened understanding of dolphin behaviors and capabilities, and a renewed respect for marvelous animals among all of the marvelous biota around us." —The Quarterly Review of Biology
Library Journal
11/01/2013Dolphins rank high in public opinion as animals exhibiting intelligence, altruism, peacefulness, social organization, and the ability to communicate. Gregg (research assoc., Dolphin Communication Project) has researched Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins and here examines our beliefs about the animals in light of peer-reviewed scientific research. He contrasts attributes of intelligence (soft science) with cognition (hard science) and discusses self-awareness, emotions, and skills at concept formation in the context of comparative animal psychology. Gregg's longest section explores "dolphinese," i.e., the existence of a dolphin language. Considering the scientific consensus on the characteristics of human language, he concludes that many animals, e.g., moray eels and elephants, communicate among themselves but that neither their communication nor that of dolphins can be considered language. While cooperative and altruistic dolphin behavior has been observed in captivity and in the wild, so has aggressive behavior within their own species and toward others. Ants, bees, and wasps band together to defend one another and their colonies; bears—not yet as closely studied—may rival dolphins and primates in cognition. Gregg uses scientific terminology, but there is no glossary. VERDICT Readers with academic backgrounds in zoology, psychology, or animal behavior will appreciate this work, while those who are fans of the late John C. Lilly's books on dolphin communication may not.—Judith B. Barnett, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston