People have been fascinated with the sea and its creatures since they first saw it. From the beginning, people harvested fish and shellfish from the ocean for food, but they also enjoyed the diversity of life under the waves. Over the centuries, people have become convinced that intelligent sea life exists.
Fisherman and sailors have always told stories of playful dolphins, monstrous sea serpents, the magnificent albatross, and other things landsmen never see. Strange things come up in nets or are caught on fishing lines. Tales found in myths and legend often really occur on the high seas. Sailors never doubted that the creatures under the water had a mind of their own.
There might not be personal malignancy, as in 'Moby Dick', but there are plenty of instances when dolphins learn to recognize friendly divers, for example. Some divers say that even barracudas respond to repeated offers of food. Seagulls quickly take up panhandling if people on the beach feed them; in fact, it sometimes doesn't seem quite safe to do so, the birds get so excited and come in such numbers.
Goldfish were once thought to have a memory span of about three seconds. A modern study, however, explodes this idea. Not only can goldfish - not saltwater fishes, it's true, but representative of the species - learn to feed themselves by operating a lever, they also can learn to work it only at meal times. Moreover, researchers found that the fish remembered the trick for three months or more.
Almost everyone knows that seals, Orcas, and dolphins can be trained. These animals not only perform for a reward of their favorite food, but they seem to enjoy playing to an audience. They exhibit group behavior in the wild that helps them catch prey or protect themselves. Scientists are continually surprised at what they see.
Some of these animals seem to understand quite an astonishing number of words and to recognize certain people they are especially fond of. They often exhibit 'human' behavior; if a design is painted on a part of a dolphin's body that it cannot see, it will go to a mirror and examine itself, perhaps preening as if to show off the decoration.
It is sometimes hard to distinguish between instinct, a fascinating subject in itself, and intelligence. Do salmon find their way on migrations with thought or with instinctive urges they mindlessly obey? Do they recognize landmarks to choose the right river and creek? Is maternal love as demonstrated by dolphins and whales merely a behavior pattern dictated by survival instincts? Those who believe in creation rather than evolution may have an easier time of believing that sea creatures can reason.
When octopus and other bottom dwellers camouflage themselves with shells or when seabirds drop hard mollusks from great heights to break them on the rocks, is that intelligence? Is there any reasoning behind symbiotic relationships? Do sea creatures use inanimate objects as tools? It often seems like ocean denizens are solving problems with reason.
Fisherman and sailors have always told stories of playful dolphins, monstrous sea serpents, the magnificent albatross, and other things landsmen never see. Strange things come up in nets or are caught on fishing lines. Tales found in myths and legend often really occur on the high seas. Sailors never doubted that the creatures under the water had a mind of their own.
There might not be personal malignancy, as in 'Moby Dick', but there are plenty of instances when dolphins learn to recognize friendly divers, for example. Some divers say that even barracudas respond to repeated offers of food. Seagulls quickly take up panhandling if people on the beach feed them; in fact, it sometimes doesn't seem quite safe to do so, the birds get so excited and come in such numbers.
Goldfish were once thought to have a memory span of about three seconds. A modern study, however, explodes this idea. Not only can goldfish - not saltwater fishes, it's true, but representative of the species - learn to feed themselves by operating a lever, they also can learn to work it only at meal times. Moreover, researchers found that the fish remembered the trick for three months or more.
Almost everyone knows that seals, Orcas, and dolphins can be trained. These animals not only perform for a reward of their favorite food, but they seem to enjoy playing to an audience. They exhibit group behavior in the wild that helps them catch prey or protect themselves. Scientists are continually surprised at what they see.
Some of these animals seem to understand quite an astonishing number of words and to recognize certain people they are especially fond of. They often exhibit 'human' behavior; if a design is painted on a part of a dolphin's body that it cannot see, it will go to a mirror and examine itself, perhaps preening as if to show off the decoration.
It is sometimes hard to distinguish between instinct, a fascinating subject in itself, and intelligence. Do salmon find their way on migrations with thought or with instinctive urges they mindlessly obey? Do they recognize landmarks to choose the right river and creek? Is maternal love as demonstrated by dolphins and whales merely a behavior pattern dictated by survival instincts? Those who believe in creation rather than evolution may have an easier time of believing that sea creatures can reason.
When octopus and other bottom dwellers camouflage themselves with shells or when seabirds drop hard mollusks from great heights to break them on the rocks, is that intelligence? Is there any reasoning behind symbiotic relationships? Do sea creatures use inanimate objects as tools? It often seems like ocean denizens are solving problems with reason.
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