Dolphins are the most intelligent creatures created by nature. For many centuries, their behavior has attracted and excited the imagination of people. Meeting them can cause a storm of enthusiastic emotions. Myths and legends were made about their lives. And the extraordinary abilities of these animals remain a mystery to this day.
In the depths of centuries
Dolphins appeared on Earth more than 70 million years ago. Their origin, which explains their developed mental abilities, is shrouded in legends and secrets no less than the appearance of man. People have been studying how dolphins' brains work, their intelligence and habits for many centuries. However, these animals were able to study us much better. For a short period they lived on land, onto which they emerged from a reservoir, and then returned back to the water. Scientists cannot explain this phenomenon to this day. However, there is an assumption that when people find a common language with dolphins, they will be able to tell us a lot about their lives. However, this is unlikely.
Unusual Facts About the Dolphin Brain
Scientists from many countries around the world are haunted by the dolphin's brain. They are trying to understand how it works. Possessing social skills, trainability and understanding of human behavior, these amazing animals are certainly different from other representatives of the fauna. Their brains have undergone unprecedented development over the past few tens of millions of years. One of the differences between the dolphin and human brains is that the animals have learned to turn off one half of the brain so that it can rest. These are the only representatives of the animal world, naturally, besides people, who are able to communicate in their own language, through a complex combination of various sounds and clicks. Scientists have discovered that dolphins have the basics of logical thinking, that is, the highest form of development of the mind. And this amazing fact has been revealed in mammals. These animals are able to solve the most complex riddles, find answers to difficult questions and adjust their behavior to the circumstances set by humans. The dolphin's brain is larger than the human brain, so the brain of an adult animal weighs 1 kg 700 g, and the human brain weighs 300 g less. A human has half as many convolutions as a dolphin. Researchers have collected materials on the presence of these representatives not only of self-awareness, but also of social consciousness. The number of nerve cells also exceeds their number in humans. Animals are capable of echolocation. An acoustic lens, which is located on the head, focuses sound waves (ultrasound), with the help of which the dolphin feels, as it were, existing underwater objects and determines their shape. The next amazing ability is the ability to sense magnetic poles. Dolphins have special magnetic crystals in their brains that help them navigate the ocean waters.
Dolphin and human brains: comparison
The dolphin is, of course, the most intelligent and intelligent animal on the planet. Scientists have found that as air passes through the nasal canals, sound signals are formed in them. These amazing animals use:
- about sixty basic sound signals;
- up to five levels of their various combinations;
- the so-called vocabulary of approximately 14 thousand signals.
The average person's vocabulary is the same. In everyday life, he uses 800-1000 different words. If the dolphin signal is translated into a human one, it will most likely resemble a hieroglyph indicating a word and an action. The ability of animals to communicate is considered a sensation. The difference between the human and dolphin brains lies in the number of convolutions; the latter has twice as many.
Studying Dolphin DNA
Australian scientists, after comparing the DNA of humans and dolphins, concluded that these mammals are our closest relatives. As a result, the legend that they are the descendants of people who lived in Atlantis developed. And after these highly civilized inhabitants went into the ocean, no one knows exactly what happened to them. According to legend, they turned into inhabitants of the deep sea and retained their love for humans in memory of their past life. Adherents of this beautiful legend claim that since there is a similarity in the intellect, DNA structures and brain of a person with a dolphin, then people have a common origin with them.
Dolphin abilities
Ichthyologists who study the phenomenal abilities of dolphins claim that they occupy an honorable second place in terms of intelligence development after humans. But apes are only the fourth. 
If we compare the brain of a human and a dolphin, then the weight of the brain of an adult animal is from 1.5 to 1.7 kg, which is certainly more than that of humans. And, for example, the ratio of body to brain sizes in chimpanzees is significantly lower than in dolphins. The complex chain of relationships and collective organization indicates the existence of a special civilization of these living beings.
Test results conducted by scientists
When comparing the brain weight of a human and a dolphin and their body weight, the ratio will be the same. During tests on the level of mental development, these creatures showed amazing results. It turned out that dolphins scored only nineteen points less than people. Scientists have concluded that animals are capable of understanding human thinking and have good analytical abilities. 
One neurophysiologist, well-known in scientific circles, who worked with dolphins for quite a long time, made the following conclusion - that it is these representatives of the animal world who will be the first to establish contact, and consciously, with human civilization. What will help dolphins in communication is that they have an individual highly developed language, excellent memory and mental abilities that allow them to transfer accumulated knowledge and experience from generation to generation. Another assumption of scientists is that if these animals had differently developed limbs, they would be able to write, due to the similarity of their minds with humans.
Some features
In times of trouble that overtakes a person in the sea or ocean, dolphins save a person. Eyewitnesses tell how the animals drove away predator sharks for several hours, not giving any chance to get closer to humans, and then helped them swim to the shore. This is precisely the attitude that is characteristic of adults towards their offspring. Perhaps they perceive a person in trouble as their cub. The superiority of these representatives of the animal world over other inhabitants lies in their monogamy. Unlike other animals that look for a mate only for mating and easily change partners, dolphins choose them for life. They live in large families, together with old people and children, caring for them throughout their entire life. Thus, the absence of polygamy, present in almost all faunal inhabitants, indicates their higher stage of development.
The keen hearing of dolphins
The uniqueness lies in the fact that the ability to reproduce a special sound using a sound wave helps to navigate expanses of water over long distances. Dolphins emit a so-called click, which, having encountered an obstacle, returns to them in the form of a special impulse, spreading through the water at great speed. 
The closer the object is, the faster the echo will return. Developed intelligence allows them to estimate the distance to an obstacle with maximum accuracy. In addition, the dolphin transmits the received information over vast distances to its fellows using special signals. Each animal has its own name, and by the characteristic intonations of its voice they are able to distinguish all members of the pack.
Language development and onomatopoeia
Using a special language, animals can explain to their fellow animals what needs to be done to get food. For example, during training sessions at the dolphinarium, they share information about which pedal needs to be pressed to make a fish fall out. The human and dolphin brains are capable of producing sounds. The ability of the latter to imitate them is manifested in the ability of animals to accurately copy and transmit various sounds: the sound of wheels, the singing of birds. The uniqueness also lies in the fact that in the recording it is impossible to distinguish where the real sound is and where it is an imitation. In addition, dolphins are able to copy human speech, although not with such accuracy.
Dolphins - teachers and researchers
They are interested in teaching their relatives the knowledge and skills they possess. Dolphins perceive information out of curiosity to learn new things, and not under duress. There are cases when an animal that lived in a dolphinarium for a long time helped trainers teach their fellow creatures various tricks. Unlike other inhabitants of the seabed, they find a balance between curiosity and danger. When exploring new territories, they put a sea sponge on their nose, which can protect them from all sorts of troubles that they encounter along the way.
The feelings and mind of an animal
It has been proven that the dolphin brain, like the human brain, is capable of expressing feelings. These animals can experience resentment, jealousy, love, and they will express these feelings quite easily. For example, if during training an animal was subjected to aggression or pain, the dolphin will show indignation and will never work with such a person. 
This just confirms that they have long-term memory. Animals have a mind similar to that of humans. For example, to extract a fish from a rocky crevice, they clamp a stick between their teeth and use it to try to push the prey out. The ability to use available tools is reminiscent of the development of man when he first began to use tools.
- These animals have well-developed intelligence.
- When comparing the brains of a dolphin and a human, it was discovered that the brain of the former, unlike the human, has more convolutions and is larger in size.
- Animals use both hemispheres in turn.
- The organs of vision are underdeveloped.
- Their unique hearing allows them to navigate perfectly.
- The maximum speed that animals can develop is 50 km/h. However, it is only available to common dolphins.
- In representatives of this genus, dermal regeneration occurs much faster than in humans. They are not afraid of infectious diseases.
- The lungs take part in breathing. The organ with which dolphins grab air is called a blowhole.
- The animal’s body is capable of producing a special substance, which in its mechanism of action is similar to morphine. Therefore, they practically do not feel pain.
- With the help of taste buds, they are able to distinguish tastes, for example, bitter, sweet and others.
- Dolphins communicate using sound signals, of which there are approximately 14,000 varieties.
- Scientists have experimentally proven that each newborn dolphin gets its own name and that they can recognize themselves in a mirror image.
- Animals are extremely trainable.
- To search for food, the most common bottlenose dolphins of the genus use a sea sponge, putting it on the sharpest part of the muzzle and thus examining the bottom in search of prey. The sponge serves as protection to prevent injury from sharp rocks or reefs.
- India has introduced a ban on keeping dolphins in captivity.
- Residents of Japan and Denmark hunt them and use the meat for food.
- In most countries, including Russia, these animals are kept in dolphinariums.
It is very difficult to list all the amazing abilities of dolphins, since every year people discover more and more new possibilities of these amazing inhabitants of nature.
Over the past 47 million years, dolphins' brains have developed to sizes unprecedented in other animals. The new, most extensive study of the fossil remains of these marine inhabitants has set out to describe the dynamics of the corresponding evolutionary development. Indirectly, this may help to find an answer to the question of how people themselves became so “brainy.”
As you know, dolphins are capable of “intellectual feats” that are inaccessible to other animals. So, they can recognize themselves in the mirror, like humans and some higher primates. Of course, everything this is associated with the truly gigantic size of the dolphin brain. Thus, in some species the ratio of brain mass to total body mass can only be compared with that of humans. But at what rate the brain of dolphins developed remained a mystery until now.
Three researchers, led by American biologist Lori Marino from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, tracked the evolutionary changes in the dolphin brain using fossil remains.
After four years of working among museum collections, this team of scientists identified 66 fossil skulls of dolphin ancestors, adding to the five previously studied. The brain sizes of these specimens were calculated using methods computed tomography(computed tomography - CT), and estimates of the animals' body weights were obtained by analyzing the size of the bones at the base of the skulls.
Fossil skulls dating back up to 47 million years have been studied. They were compared with 144 modern specimens, resulting in the calculation of the so-called EQ(encephalisation quotient - “braininess coefficient”) of each such creature. This coefficient connects the brain mass of a particular specimen with the average value of a particular species of animal of similar size, and if EQ is less than one, then this means that we are dealing with an “underdeveloped” creature, but if EQ > 1, then the brain considered relatively large. In this sense, humans are “more brainy” than all other animals; they have an EQ coefficient of approximately 7.
Residual elements in the skeletons of dolphins confirm that they descended from some kind of land-based four-legged mammals.
Blood tests suggested that cetaceans, which include dolphins, and ungulates are related. Once upon a time they returned from land to the water element (perhaps this was due to some kind of global catastrophe), eventually losing their hind limbs and acquiring fins.
Approximately 35 million years ago, these pinnipeds were the size of a small whale- approximately 9 meters in length, had sharp teeth and an EQ of about 0.5.
And from this moment on, a mysterious change occurs: the old species inexplicably die out, replaced by a new group called Odontoceti (a suborder of toothed whales).
A new study shows that all these creatures were much smaller than before, had smaller teeth, but their brain size increased dramatically. Their EQ jumped to 2,5 - a phenomenon that Marino associates with the development of echolocation skills, that is, the use of sound waves to determine the location of objects under water.
The study also shows that approximately 8 of the 67 species of Odontoceti (including dolphins) went through a second stage of EQ elevation approximately 15 million years ago, reaching rates 4 And 5 , although the reasons for this second evolutionary leap remain completely unclear.
There is only one such case of "explosive" development of "mental abilities" among large animals known to scientists today: over five million years of human history, EQ increased from approximately 2.5 to 7. At the same time, the "mental abilities" of the remaining part of the "dolphin tribe" “For some reason, on the contrary, they decreased.
"There is a myth according to which the development of life forms is always accompanied by an increase in brain size,- says Marino. - However, from the point of view of animal metabolism (metabolism), mental abilities are very expensive, and therefore, according to the logic of evolutionary development, you need to have some extremely compelling reasons in order to “get” yourself a big brain.”. She adds that, according to another scientific myth, only one type of large-brained creature can evolve at the same time and in the same place. However, new work shows that for 15 million years, many different species of dolphins and whales coexisted happily in the ocean together.
Contact between humans and dolphins is one of the favorite plots of science fiction. Moreover, the intelligence of dolphins in literature has become such a commonplace that, according to a number of American authors (Larry Niven, David Brin, etc.), in the future dolphins, together with people, will even be able to explore and populate the Galaxy.
Dolphins are the most intelligent mammals on earth. The brain of a dolphin is similar in structure. Despite numerous studies, they remain the most mysterious mammals on earth.
Research into the extraordinary capabilities of sea creatures has confirmed their intellectual abilities. Through MRI diagnostics, scientists discovered that the complexity of brain structures in dolphins is not inferior to the human center, but on the contrary, in comparison with humans, there are even an order of magnitude more convolutions and nerve cells.
The brain of a bottlenose dolphin weighs 1700 grams, a total of 350 grams. exceeding the weight of the central organ of the nervous system in an adult male. The external difference is only in shape: in mammals it has the shape of a sphere, the human brain is slightly flattened. The associative area of the cortex is absolutely identical to humans, thereby confirming the presence of intelligence in marine inhabitants.
The parietal lobe in dolphins is comparable in size to the parietal and frontal lobes in humans. The visual part of the brain (occipital) is very large in mammals.
Despite excellent vision, and the ability to move the eyeballs in different directions, thereby covering a radius of 300 degrees, mammals use ultrasound for vision - directing it at various objects. Pushing off, the sound returns, thereby the dolphin determines the shape and distance to the object.
Unlike humans, dolphins' brains can survive without sleep - which is fatal for humans. The peculiarity of these creatures is the ability to turn off one half of the center, while maintaining all reactions. One part of the brain takes over all functions when the other is in a state of sleep - this is equivalent to having two centers.
Dolphins, like humans, have the ability to produce sound. Mammals can accurately copy various noises or trills of birds. Communication between relatives occurs through signals that are formed by the passage of air through the nasal canals.
Dolphin vocabulary:
- Basic beeps (about 60);
- Five levels of their different combinations;
- 14 thousand different signals.
This is identical to the human vocabulary and if you translate the sound of mammals into words, it will look like a hieroglyph. Dolphins have good memory and mental abilities, which allows them, like humans, to pass on experience to generations.
A feature of the central apparatus of cetaceans is the presence of magnetic crystals that orient themselves in the wide space of the ocean.
Who's smarter?
Numerous studies of the brain structures of cetaceans confirm their evolutionary development and the presence of a higher form of intelligence (logic). Australian scientists have classified dolphins as the closest relatives of humans, based on DNA analysis.
Perhaps this became the basis for the hypothesis - all cetaceans are the distant ancestors of humans and they were forced to leave land for compelling reasons. The size of the hemispheres is explained by oxygen starvation and, as a result, enlargement of the organ.
Ichthyologists have proven that the mammalian brain is capable of expressing feelings: jealousy, resentment, love. This indicates the presence of long-term memory and intelligence close to the person.
Certain individuals of dolphins perceive complex linguistic structures and are capable of analyzing the situation. Their intelligence level is similar to that of a preschool child.
Dolphins' large brains are not associated with great intelligence - there are too few neurons. Marine inhabitants need a central organ for orientation in space and heat regulation. Based on this, mammals occupy an honorable second place in intellectual development after humans.
Prepared material
Ekaterina Sivkova
Each week, Look At Me takes a look at a popular misconception and tries to figure out why it is so attractive to the majority of people who advocate it, and ultimately why it is not true. In the new issue - that dolphins have a completely unfounded reputation as the smartest mammals.
Statement:
Dolphins are the most intelligent mammals on the planet after humans. The dolphin's brain is in no way inferior to the human brain in terms of structural complexity: it even has more convolutions and nerve endings.
What has attracted the attention of scientists around the world to the extraordinary intelligence of dolphins is primarily the size of their brains. The adult brain weighs about 1,700 grams, while the average human brain weighs 1,400 grams. In 1961, psychoanalyst and neuroscientist John C. Lilly, in his book Man and Dolphin: Adventures of a New Scientific Frontier, stated that dolphins have their own language with 60 basic signals and 5 levels of their combination, and after 10–20 years a person will be able to master this language and establish communication. In addition, dolphins stand out from other intelligent animals due to the presence of self-awareness (they are able to recognize themselves in the mirror) and emotional sympathy (readiness to come to the aid of other individuals). In India, for example, dolphins are officially recognized as individuals, and dolphinariums throughout the country are banned because they violate the right of dolphins to freedom.
Chris Parsons
zoologist
“There is no doubt that certain dolphins have the ability to comprehend sign language and symbolic signs, as well as recognize linguistic structures (mainly written language) if they are accompanied by the performance of an action or the demonstration of an object. They are able to perceive complex linguistic structures such as syntax, analyze the behavior of others, “cheat” for their own benefit, and recognize their reflection in the mirror - something that some babies are not capable of. In fact, their level of intelligence and awareness is at the level of a preschool child.”
Why this is not true:
The size of a dolphin's brain has nothing to do with its intelligence: dolphins need large brains to stay warm and remember complex coastlines.
Justin Gregg, author of the book Are Dolphins Really Smart? The mammal behind the myth, is convinced that the language of dolphins is extremely limited and therefore does not prove that they are intellectually gifted. No one denies that dolphins have a complex signaling system that ensures the transfer of information between individuals, but it can only be called a language. And the emotional sympathy of dolphins is extremely exaggerated: they are able to attack humans and kill the young of other species (for example, porpoises). According to animal acoustic communication specialist Jay Mortan, dolphins need large brains for no more than to keep their heads warm and navigate.
Ecology
Dolphins are cute and friendly sea creatures that are often confused with fish. However, dolphins are intelligent and inquisitive mammals whose mental abilities surprise scientists a lot.
Dolphins have developed complex abilities, living in the harsh conditions of oceans and seas. For example, did you know that dolphins can remain awake for a long time, have unique abilities to navigate in space, have a magnetic sense, and can even control the blood flow in the body?
Dolphin brain
Dolphins know how to stay awake
All animals on the planet need sleep, including humans. The world record for sleep deprivation belongs to Randy Gardner who hasn't slept for 11 days. However, already on the 4th day he began to hallucinate.
If a person does not sleep, he will eventually die. The same thing will happen to any creature with developed brain functions, except for dolphins who, as it turns out, have learned to deprive themselves of sleep and still feel great. For example, baby dolphins do not sleep the same way as their parents during the first month of their lives.
The thing is that these amazing creatures can turn off half your brain for some time. Scientists continuously tested the dolphins' reactions for 5 days, and, as it turned out, their reactions did not slow down. Blood tests for signs of stress or insomnia came back negative. Dolphins can use this ability endlessly.
Another study found that dolphins can use echolocation for 15 consecutive days with almost perfect accuracy. This makes sense because it allows animals to always be on alert and notice the approach of predators.
However, the most surprising thing is that part of the dolphin's brain still sleeps. At the same time, visual information begins to be processed by another, active part of the brain. In other words, if a dolphin turns off part of its brain, its second part can take on all the functions of the first. It's like having two brains instead of one.
Dolphin vision
Amazing Dolphin Vision
It is known that dolphins use echolocation in order to navigate the world in which they live. Since visibility in the depths of the sea leaves much to be desired, it is easier for animals to use sounds to “see” objects. You might think that they have no need for vision at all, but this is not so.
Dolphin vision much better than it might seem. Firstly, their eyes are located on both sides of their heads, which allows them to cover a huge area at 300 degrees. They can see what's behind them. Second, each eye moves independently of the other, allowing animals to look in different directions at the same time.
Dolphins also have reflective layer of cells, which is located behind the retina and is called tapetem lucidem. This allows them to see perfectly in low light. Moreover, dolphins can see just as well above the surface of the water as underwater.
Dolphin skin
You might wonder why dolphins are not picked on by other sea creatures, e.g. barnacles. Whales are often covered in these creatures, but dolphins seem to be immune. Dolphins' skin always looks smooth, clean and shiny. What is her secret?
Unique dolphin skin has a lot of advantages. Firstly, the top layer of skin - the epidermis - is no rougher in dolphins than in humans; it is 10-20 times thinner than the epidermis of any land animal. However, it is growing 9 times faster than ours.
Unique dolphin lungs
Dolphins are known to be excellent swimmers. For example, the bottlenose dolphin can hold its breath while underwater, up to 12 minutes, while diving to the depths up to 550 meters! They are capable of this thanks to their unique lungs.
Although the lungs of these animals are no larger than ours, they work much more efficiently. With every breath the dolphin changes about 80 percent or more air in the lungs. We can change only 17 percent.
The blood and muscles of dolphins can accumulate and transport huge amounts of oxygen due to the fact that in the animals’ bodies more red blood cells. This means a higher concentration of hemoglobin than in humans.
However, all this cannot fully explain how dolphins manage to hold their breath for so long and dive to such depths. It turns out that dolphins are able to direct blood flow in the desired direction. For example, during deep-sea diving, blood moves from the extremities to the heart and brain, improving their functioning in extreme conditions.
Wound healing in dolphins
When injured, dolphins are able to miraculously restore health. From a scientific point of view, their ability to recover is comparable with something fantastic.
For example, dolphins can survive severe injuries and can regenerate large amounts of damaged flesh in just a couple of weeks. Moreover, their appearance can return to its original appearance. without any scars or deformities.
By the way, dolphins also there is no bleeding. For example, a person with a serious open injury can die only due to blood loss. When injured, the dolphin directs the blood flow in the right direction, just as it does when diving, which prevents it from bleeding to death.
Natural pain relievers of dolphins
Dolphins don't seem to care about such inconveniences as physical pain. After they receive serious injuries that would immobilize any living creature on the planet, they can safely continue to play, swim and even eat normally.
When dolphins have open wounds, their nerve endings are not exposed, which causes severe pain. This does not mean that they do not experience pain at all, they are also very sensitive, just like us.
However, when seriously injured, dolphins simply know how to... ignore her. It is believed that their body is capable of producing special painkillers, such as morphine, which, however, do not cause any addiction.
Dolphins developed such abilities during evolution, which allowed them to survive in dangerous conditions. For example, if a predator is chasing you, it is better not to show him that you are injured or that you are in pain. Then you have more chances to survive and not to attract attention to yourself as weak and helpless.
Dolphins and infections
Having open wounds on their bodies, dolphins are able to swim in water infested with bacteria, and at the same time don't get any infections. It looks like they are not even afraid of wounds from the dirty teeth of sharks. A person in this situation would immediately die from blood poisoning within a few days. However, at least something for the dolphins!
It turns out that no infections attach to dolphins. It is known that the immune system of these animals is similar to ours, but how then do they manage to ward off all the infection?
In fact, no one can say for sure where dolphins have such miraculous abilities. There is an assumption that dolphins receive a kind of antibiotics from plankton and algae.
The chemicals these microscopic creatures produce have been discovered in subcutaneous fat of dolphins. If the fat layer is damaged by injury, antibacterial substances are released.
How do dolphins manages to accumulate these life-saving substances under the skin, and not process them during metabolism, remains a mystery to scientists.
Dolphins are the best swimmers
In 1936, British zoologist Sir James Gray I was amazed at how fast dolphins can swim. He began to study their anatomy in great detail and found out that the skin of dolphins should have magical properties, which would prevent friction, only then would they be able to develop such speed. This idea was called "Grey's paradox" and until 2008, scientists could not solve it.
Gray was partly right: dolphins do have anti-friction features. However, Gray underestimated the muscle strength of dolphins, which is 5 times greater than the muscle strength of the strongest person on the planet. Moreover, dolphins also know how to use their energy very efficiently.
A person can use only 4 percent of their energy to move in water. Dolphins, in turn, transform 80 percent of energy in traction, making them the most efficient swimmers.
Magnetic sense of dolphins
Why do dolphins and whales sometimes washed ashore? This mystery has troubled the minds of scientists for many years. Various theories have been proposed: strange diseases, environmental pollution or testing of military equipment. However, research has not supported any of these theories.
Cases of animals washing ashore have been recorded for many hundreds of years, but only recently have scientists begun to guess why main reason: It turns out that it’s all about the Sun and the magnetic field of our planet.
The brains of dolphins and whales have special magnetic crystals, which allow them to sense the Earth's magnetic field. With the help of such a built-in GPS system, they can move across the vast expanses of the ocean, without much difficulty finding their way around.
One group of researchers mapped the east coast of the United States, where sightings were observed. mass deaths of dolphins. As it turned out, these areas coincided with places where magnetic rocks reduced the levels of the planet's magnetic field.
Thus, a dolphin or whale that navigates by magnetic field could simply "not to notice" shore and ended up on dry land.
Scientists have also found that when the Sun emits too much radiation, it affects the magnetic senses of marine mammals and also confuses them. Most animals wash ashore when solar activity is strongest. This may also explain why rescued animals return to shore again.
Electroreception of dolphins
The echolocators in dolphins' bodies are truly incredible. Amazes their ability sense objects at a distance. Animals are able to send sound signals and listen to echoes reflected from objects.
If we add to this rare feeling the other abilities of dolphins discussed above, we can conclude that dolphins really have fantastic feelings and abilities what distinguishes them from other living beings.
However, Mother Nature endowed them with something else: electroreception - the ability to feel electrical impulses, sent by other living beings.
Guyanese dolphins live off the coast of South America and are similar in appearance to bottlenose dolphins. Researchers have discovered special indentations on their beaks, which are able to recognize electrical impulses sent by fish muscles.
A similar feature is found in animals such as platypuses. They use it to find fish hiding in the mud. Echolocation allows dolphins to determine the position of objects in space, but it not particularly effective at close range, so electroreception comes into play.
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