原來如此：海豚沒有想象中聰明

2015-04-29 00:00:00byArunRath

瘋狂英語·中學版 2015年4期

Everyone loves dolphins. They’re 1）adorable， playful and super 2）intelligent.

Man #1： The dolphins have learned a simple 3）sign language.

Woman #1： These so-called big brained 4）mammal.

Woman #2： Their intelligence actually 5）rivals ours.

Man #2： As far as I know， other than humans， dolphins are the only ones that can do this.

But recently， some researchers have been saying hang on a minute. Dolphins may not be as special as you think. In a recent piece for the magazine New Scientist， Caroline Williams rounds up some of the 6）dissenting opinions.

Caroline Williams： A researcher called Paul Manger came along and said， OK， well， all these great things that they can do—if you compare them to other mammals， they start looking less special—and， erm， and saying that we really just love them too much.

So I asked her to qualify us some of the ideas we have about dolphin brilliance. What about the idea that they can understand 7）symbols the way humans can？

Williams： Well， the studies show that they can. Paul Manger comes back and says， well， so can sea lions. And actually the sea lions learn it quicker. But we’re not looking at sea lions and going， wow， they’re so intelligent. We love them. You know， we should…we should go and 8）commune with them

OK， well， what about the mirror test？ Dolphins can recognize themselves， right？ So they have a sense of self. Well， not so fast say some scientists.

Williams： If you look at the data， they perform the same behavior when the mirror is there and when it’s not.

But what about their huge brains？ Williams： Yeah， they do have big brains. But then again， the relationship between size and intelligence is…is kind of a 9）tricky one anyway.

I asked Caroline Williams if with all the 10）focus on dolphins， could we be 11）overlooking the intelligence of animals that are， well， less cute and smiley？ Williams： Yeah， I think so. I did speak to one researcher called Justin Gregg， who’s just written a book called Are Dolphins Really Smart？ And he 12）reckons that a lot of it comes down to a man called John Lilly， who was a researcher back in the 60s. And he was the one that was 13）responsible for this image as peaceful， loving geniuses and 14）spiritual healers and all that kind of thing.

John Lilly thought dolphins were at least as intelligent as humans and spent years trying to 15）figure out a way to 16）communicate with the animals. His life and work were an 17）inspiration for the 1973 science fiction film [The] Day of the Dolphin. George C. Scott plays a version of Doctor Lilly， a researcher who actually teaches dolphins to speak English.

（Soundbite of film， The Day of the Dolphin） George C. Scott：（As Dr. Jake Terrell） Where is the ball？ What did we do with the ball？

（Soundbite of dolphin speaking English） Scott：（As Dr. Jake Terrell） Did Fa stop thee？

（Soundbite of dolphin speaking English）

OK， that’s a little bit silly. But Williams says that despite the fact that the real Doctor John Lilly did 18）outlandish things， like dropping 19）acid with his dolphins， his research got a lot of attention. Williams： As a result of his early work， dolphins did start to get more attention， so more researchers started looking into their intelligence. And Justin Gregg said to me， well， maybe if similar things had been said about sea lions back then， maybe they’d have had just as much studies.

So that’s been good and bad really， ’cause it means that we do understand dolphins quite well， because there’s been a lot of research done on them. But maybe that has 20）elevated them above other 21）species—it may be fairly or it may turn out that they’re 22）on a par with lots of other species as well.

Science journalist Caroline Williams wrote the piece Behind the Smile： What Dolphins Really Think in New Scientist magazine.