5 How Dolphins Communicate
How Dolphins Communicate – Dolphins are amazing and unique animals. In addition to being intelligent and friendly, dolphins are able to communicate in a variety of ways. One of the best ways to understand our underwater friends is by understanding how they communicate.
- Biological Sonar Like Bats
Dolphins have a biological sonar called echolocation. Like bats, dolphins have a biological sonar called echolocation.
This tool can detect various things that are in their environment by emitting low or high sound frequencies. This is like an echo effect. How Dolphins Communicate will calculate how long it takes for the sound reflection or echo to return.
Dolphin echolocation is very precise. They can detect the size of an object, the direction of travel, density, and the position of an object above or below the dolphin. This technique is important for dolphins when they are underwater. Because even though their vision is limited when underwater, they can still find food and avoid danger.
- Whistling
Dolphins communicate by whistling or whistle-like sounds. They have distinctive and unique vocal sounds. The difference in vocal sounds when communicating is an important point for dolphins to understand their interlocutors.
- Body Language
In addition to communicating through echolocation and whistling, dolphins have a variety of body languages including wagging their tails and fins like hitting the water, jumping out of the water, colliding with each other, and sky hopping. For example, measuring the water with the tail and fins is a signal that dolphins are warning their species if there is danger nearby. But sometimes this can be a positive signal, depending on the violence and repetition of the blows to the water.
- Communication with Physical Contact
Dolphins communicate through physical fights. Hard head clashes are aggressive signals that dolphins use to fend off males during mating. On the other hand, gentle clashes and touches using fins are signs of affection.
- Jumping Out of the Surface
Most of us may have witnessed a dolphin show jumping out of the water. Jumping out of the water is believed by researchers as a sign that they want to show off their youthfulness while monitoring predators around them. In addition to just being exposed, jumping out of the water helps save energy to move. Jumping in the air requires less effort than swimming through water.
Here’s Why Dolphins Are Smart at Communicating
Did you know, apparently one of the reasons why dolphins are smart is because they have the largest brain size in the world. The dolphin brain generally weighs around 1500 to 1700 grams, slightly larger than the human brain and 4x heavier than the chimpanzee brain. That’s why dolphins are in 2nd place after humans in terms of brain to body weight ratio. However, unlike the human brain and primates such as apes, dolphins have smaller frontal lobes.
In this case, dolphins process their language and auditory information in the temporal lobe, which is located next to their brains. Research shows that dolphins process auditory and visual information in some parts of the neocortex. In addition, dolphin brains contain special brain cells called spindle neurons. This is what makes dolphins have intermediate powers such as recognizing, remembering, reasoning, communicating, understanding, adapting to changes, and solving problems.
Dolphins Have an Extensive Communication System
The reason why dolphins are smart next is because they have an extensive and complex communication mechanism. For example, dolphins are able to recognize precisely which members of the group or group are ‘Communicating’ in the ocean. Dolphins naturally communicate through pulses, ‘clicks’ or biological sonar, and whistles, not through their eyes.
Quoting Tree Hugger, in 2000, one behavioral ecologist proposed that dolphin whistles act as a personal analysis tool similar to a name. Dolphins use sounds like ‘distinctive whistles’ to announce their arrival or tell someone where they are. “how dolphins communicate”