Animals & nature · 2013
Can dolphins remember a former companion’s whistle after years apart?
Yes. In a playback experiment, dolphins recognized former tank mates’ whistles, showing that social recognition can last at least 20 years. Researchers compared responses to familiar and unfamiliar whistles in dolphins at facilities that transfer animals between them. The finding supports very long-lasting memory, but does not establish lifelong memory.
Details
Researchers tested dolphins by playing recordings of former tank mates and unfamiliar dolphins. They used signature whistles—the distinctive whistles associated with individual dolphins. Transfers between facilities in a breeding consortium provided a setting for studying recognition after long separations.
Recognition could persist for at least 20 years. The abstract reports that this ability did not depend on relatedness, sex or how long the dolphins had lived together, but gives no sample size or detailed response measurements.
The author interprets the results as evidence that dolphins could remember one another for life, rather than proof of memory lasting a whole lifetime. The experiment involved dolphins living in facilities, not wild dolphins. The proposed connection between complex social lives and memory is suggestive, not evidence of a causal relationship.
What do you think?
Good conversations begin with curiosity.
You can read comments without an account. Sign in to write.
Loading comments…