Monday, August 3, 2009

DOLPHIN BODY LANGUAGE FOLLOWS RULES OF VERBAL COMMUNICATION

I am a firm believer that Dolphins possess a language.  I would like to read more on this finding.  As you reading this, think about  a marathon run, and all the body language that goes on with running and moving, could not a scientist make a claim that there is an entire language in the movements on the runners.  It stands to reason that any life would use an energy efficient means of locomotion, as least as efficient as possible depending on the mode of movement.  By nature conserving energy and efficient use is the rule.  (I think here is a good place to make a call for mandatory nap time at places of work!!). 

I also would like to have seen Dr. Cancho elaborate on his comparison of efficient Dolphin movements being like humans reducing picture size to save space.  I am not sure about that comparison. Giving him the benefit, his explanation may have been edited by the news organization.

Over all a very interesting read though. ---JohnOh


http://www.dolphinkind.com/images/pic9.jpg


Dolphin body language follows human rules of verbal communication, scientists have discovered.

from Telegraph.co.uk; online news; Earth > Wildlife section


As a general rule, the most frequently used words in human languages tend to be the shortest.

The same law applies to dolphins slapping their tails, diving, flopping sideways, and performing other movements when surface swimming, according to Spanish and British researchers.

"Patterns of dolphin behaviour at the surface obey the same law of brevity as human language, with both seeking out the simplest and most efficient codes," said Dr Ramon Ferrer i Cancho, from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain.


http://individual.utoronto.ca/augustbattiston/archives/dolphin_cartoon.gif




The "law of brevity" proposed by linguists holds that the most frequently used words – such as "the" and "but" - are also the shortest.

Dolphins appear to use the same "linguistic economy" in their swimming movements, say the researchers.


http://www.eddiewade.co.uk/dolphin.gif


The creatures have a complex language that scientists are still far from understanding.

Although dolphins communicate mostly by means of audible clicks and whistles, experts believe they also employ body language when swimming close to one another.

Working with British colleague Dr David Lusseau, from the University of Aberdeen, Dr Ferrer i Cancho studied bottlenose dolphins living off the coast of New Zealand.



http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cga/lowres/cgan741l.jpg



The scientists found that each movement pattern made by the creatures could be broken down into one or more of four basic units. For example, the "tail slap" pattern could be divided up into three sub-movements given the names "slap", "tail" and "two".

A pattern called "spy hop" was made up of the units "stop", "expose", and "head". In contrast, the "side flop" pattern only comprised "leap" and "side", while a movement dubbed "tailstock dive" consisted of only one unit, the "dorsal arch".


http://static.stuff.co.nz/1233108507/561/184561.jpg



In total the researchers counted more than 30 patterns of behaviour and their related units. Dolphins were seen to execute many behaviour patterns made up of just one unit, and far fewer composed of four units.

The findings are reported in the journal Complexity.

"The results show that the simple and efficient behaviour strategies of dolphins are similar to those used by humans with words, and are the same as those used, for example, when we reduce the size of a photographic or video image in order to save space," Dr Ferrer i Cancho said.



  

15 comments:

  1. Wow Kevin Spacey does a great job with this old fav...as for dolphins it is not hard to fall in love with them....They are on our wave length...I am sure.

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  2. (big smile) Would you like to learn more about Dolphin body language? Just asking...

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  3. Linda, are you a dolphin lol? So cute them holding "hands" in the back ground....

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  4. Dolphins and elephants hold the trump cards in my deck :)

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  5. I love the Kevin Spacey Version John but thought you might like the original..from Bobby Darin...

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  6. so does this mean the making out will be all in the body language?
    ^)^ i am so excited to watch! yay!

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  7. Nothing like body language to communicate!!!

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  8. Fascinating creature in every sense of the word! lol yep yep... humans ARE slow to learn compared to them it seems.

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  9. no pictures or videos though!!!

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  10. Love dolphins!...Why they seem to like humans baffles me.

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  11. This is totally fascinating. I always wonder where on earth you get all these little cartoons you come up with in your blogs. You must save them just for the occasion I reckon....LOL.

    Great read John.

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  12. I think they feel sorry for us. . .

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  13. I agree with Nancie ..... Dolphins and elephants are only two of a very large amount of intelligent life on this planet .... love em both !

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  14. Very interesting! Have you ever thought btw, that when a person is aware of his/her "bodylanguage", it shows when he/she is moving - look around on the street and observe people: I'm pretty sure you'll notice who is "aware of his/herself and body" and who's not. ;o)

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  15. Interesting. And a good match in music!

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