Talk with the Dolphins at EPCOT
It has always been on my mind if animals should be kept in prison for the pleasure of mankind. I thought about it a lot and thought that animals should be kept in the free. It was a program about a couple of eagles, close to extension, caught by the San Diego zoo that changed my mind on this. Not only did they took good care of the animals, but they made sure that their species would not get lost. After a while they could release a whole new “nest” of eagles in the wild preventing the lost of these unique creatures. I still believe animals should be kept in the free as much as possible, but I do understand that keeping some of them in (good) zoo’s they still can have a quality life. I am sure this is something we could debate about for a very long time, but might never come to a clear answer that is good for all animals.
I guess that is why I have no problem with Animal Kingdom as they too have proven how well they take care of their animals. Just look at the Conservation Station and their abilities to help animals when they need that extra care.
Today I read on the Orlando Sentinel about another great experiment where Researchers try to talk with the dolphins at EPCOT’s Living Seas attraction. To learn the dolphins talk to the people they use rhythms. In the first step of this research they show an object to a dolphin who then is thought to add the right vocalization of the rhythm.
A basketball, for example, is identified with chirp pause chirp pause chirp pause, a rhythm that researchers dubbed the “dribble.” Chirp pause long whistle means the Batman action figure. Long whistle pause long whistle pause long whistle is the watering can.
In a second step the trainers will playback these rhythms to the dolphins who will then have to look for the object that is related to it. Dolphins are bright animals and with research like this we can see that there is still a lot we humans can learn from them.
If nothing else, rhythm might give trainers and dolphins another means to communicate