Dolphin Communication Breakthroughs Marvel the World

May 2015 was all about Dolphin communication. With five important reports and studies released the voices of Dolphins became stronger than ever before. On May National Geographic released their full report Dolphin Intelligence -leading report of their monthly May  magazine Issue assuring that “it is time for communication”. The organization Wild Dolphin Project  -longest organization working with dolphins on Earth spoke about their CHAT findings and breakthroughs while a new study proved that Dolphins establish solid social networks.  Another study revealed that Dolphins “speak up” in noise polluted environments and finally the BBC ran a report on Dolphin conservation and global meetings where Dolphin protection is urged. 

National Geographic Dolphin May expose aims to put together the pieces of Dolphin communication in search of the “Rosetta Stone” of the Dolphin language. For decades Dolphin communication, sonar cognitive and brain functions have been under study. Findings of researchers now assure that dolphins communication goes beyond what we originally imagined. Dolphins use sonar pulsing to map, scan and create visual acoustic imagery in their brains. National Geographic assures that other dolphins can “eavesdrop” on the sonar activity of other Dolphins -a function which would act much like  a sort of telepathy or perhaps a “shared information network”. Most noteworthy the National Geographic May expose addressed the evolution pathway in which dolphins have embarked. The one way evolution road of millions of years of dolphins shares little other living organisms making them unique in their evolutionary adaptation. Dolphins see, breathe, hunt, communicate and just think different. 

The Wild Dolphin Project -NGO scientific organization celebrating their 30th anniversary and now the longest running underwater dolphin study program in the world was spotlighted by National Geographic in their latest release. 

Based out of Jupiter Wild Dolphin Project founder and Research Director Denise Herzing  PhD and her staff, crew, graduate students and volunteers have overseen long-term, non-invasive field research on 100 dolphins living in the Bahamas Atlantic waters.

“Most people only ever see dolphins from the surface, a glimpse from the beach or while on a boat. But that is only the beginning, the real story is what is going on beneath the waves,” those working inside Wild Dolphin Project explain. Despite the wide range of vocalizations which Dolphins emit scientists still have not cracked the Dolphin language. 

Science Daily reported on a new paper which assures that “just like humans, dolphins have complex social networks”. 

The paper of researchers from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University concluded that Dolphins “form highly complex and dynamic social networks of friends.” 

The study looked into the environment of the Indian Lagoon and discovered the importance of the environment in this social networking creation. Over 200 dolphins were observed and documented as part of the study. The paper was published at the Journal Marine Mammal Science. 

Dolphins were documented to form different groups depending on the environment, much like humans form different social groups whether they are in cities or in more rural areas. 

"For example, communities that occupy the narrowest stretches of the Indian River Lagoon have the most compact social networks, similar to humans who live in small towns and have fewer people with whom to interact," the researchers concluded.

Dolphins also showed preference to other dolphins “exhibiting both preference and avoidance behavior”.

"One of the more unique aspects of our study was the discovery that the physical dimensions of the habitat, the long, narrow lagoon system itself, influenced the spatial and temporal dynamics of dolphin association patterns," Elizabeth Murdoch Titcomb stated.

Elizabeth Murdoch Titcomb worked on the study with Greg O'Corry-Crowe  PHD -associate research professor at HBOI, Marilyn Mazzoil -senior research associate at HBOI, and Elizabeth Hartel. 

In this time of Climate Change and global impacts Dolphin are also evolving. Marine Science Today reported on another new study which proved that Dolphins are using more energy when living in noise impacted environments. Noise pollution has an energetic cost for dolphins. 

Scientists of NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center NWFSC working with scientists of the University of California Santa Cruz assure that “dolphins need to raise their voices to be heard” in noise polluted environments. 

Researchers not only drew conclusions but even measured how much energy Dolphins are spending when affected by this type of environmental conditions. 

“While the energy difference is slight, it has the potential to add up over time, particularly with young animals and nursing females that already expend more energy than most,” the Team stated. 

“If they’re repeatedly exposed to a lot of noise, the repeated effort to call louder or longer or more often -that’s where the impacts could become more significant,” Marla Holt, a research biologist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the paper published at the Journal of Experimental Biology explained.

Spending of energy impacts young, growing animals or nursing females which already struggle to to eat enough to maintain their energy balance. 

The study found that the dolphins consumed about 80 percent more oxygen when whistling at the highest vocal energy levels than they did at rest. 

On May 26th BBC ran a report titled: “Loud Wakeup Call” focusing on critically endangered dolphins. The report assures that Maui's dolphin population has dropped below 50 and are in risk of extinction within 15 years if protection is not stepped up. The critically endangered species is found only in waters off New Zealand.

“The study is being presented at a meeting of the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in San Diego, US. More than 200 experts are attending the annual event,” BBC reported. 

Also working with noise but in a different direction is Dr. Denise Herzing of the Wild Dolphin Project. His CHAT communication device was highlighted by National Geographic in their Dolphin Intelligence Issue. Dr. Herzing has been working for the past 30 years with Bahamas dolphins and assures that humans can actually communicate with Dolphins with the CHAT device. 

CHAT -Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry is a shoebox-size cube of aluminum and clear plastic. Dr. Herzing straps it to his chest and submerges into the ocean waters. Equipped with a small speaker, keyboard and two hydrophones the machine computes and broadcasts dolphin sounds. 

If a dolphin repeats one of the dolphin-like whistles, the computer can convert the sound into words and then play them through a headset. It is believed that if the Dolphin language is ever cracked it will be done with the use of CHAT type machines.