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Dolphins have longest memories of all non-human species

Could you recognize a childhood friend you hadn't seen or spoken to in 20 years, just by their voice? I think most people would find it difficult, at the very least. That is, unless we're talking about the recently-dubbed "non-human people" — dolphins.

Turns out the aquatic mammals put us land-dwellers to shame in the long-term memory department. A study published today shows how the animals possess a truly remarkable social memory; the ability to recall other dolphins by the distinctive whistle that acts as their name. The researchers demonstrated that the animals easily remembered the 'names' and voices of others they hadn't heard in more than 20 years.

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Author of the study, Jason Bruck, took advantage of the fact dolphins tend to be moved between facilities during their lives in captivity to see how they'd react to sounds from animals with whom they'd once had contact. The results showed that, "overall, dolphins showed significantly higher response to familiar whistles than to unfamiliar ones," and that it didn't even matter how long they'd been housed together before — dolphins who'd lived together for as few as 3 months showed similar responses to those who'd been tank mates for more than 18 years.

Bruck's conclusions include the notion that this kind of social memory — observed in humans, dolphins, and, maybe, elephants — may be a step in promoting cognitive development overall; it could be the better you can remember each other, the smarter your species gets.

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It's always been pretty clear that dolphins are quite intelligent, and if we place any value on intelligence, they are an important species and worthy of protection and preservation.

Unfortunately, our activities are taking their toll on dolphins around the world. Even worse, they are suffering and dying due to disease, and in some cases the cause isn't even known. Just yesterday, it was reported that more than 120 bottlenose dolphins have been found dead since June, washed up along beaches in Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey, and another 13 dead were discovered over this past weekend. A virus or bacterial infection could be the cause (as it apparently was during a similar rash of deaths back in 1987/88), but according to a Reuters article from August 1st, it could be several months before they know the cause.

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