Dolphin rescues stranded whales

Rasobasi,

I am sure you have heard this idea before, but what do you think about humans actually evolving from dolphins when we were in that aquatic stage; versus cohabiting with them. Entertaining the notion for a second, if there was fossil evidence for this, would it be perserved in the ocean waters? Would it be on the ocean floors? On a genetic level, humans share like 97% or something right? And primates it's like 98%?

This was all from the top of my head, and the rear of my arse, hence the reason it was so non-sensical

[edit on 043131p://13u43 by Lucid Lunacy]

reply to post by Beachcoma


but where were the mice in all of this? and remember never let a vogon read you poetry! LOL!

All in the best laid plans of Mice.


And no Lucid. There is so much blatant evidence that we descended directly from primates, that it would be folly to consider we came from any other species.

Though, to give you some ego... if you trace mammals back far enough, we eventually did come from the same basic species. But at no point during human evolution were we dolphins.
They, like primates, branched off and became what they are.


I still argue that dolphins have a greater potential IQ than humans. The only restriction there is that they do not possess the appendages necessary to do anything with it.

"...after an inter-species conversation, the dolphin guided the whales to safety and open water, where they were promptly slaughtered by a waiting Japanese whaler in the name of research."

After reading this story, harming either of these noble creatures can be no less than cold-blooded murder. And that bogus 'research' line just became obscene.

Originally posted by johnsky

I still argue that dolphins have a greater potential IQ than humans. The only restriction there is that they do not possess the appendages necessary to do anything with it.

You mean, to never do anything monkey-like with it!

For all we know they have the best poetry and shakespearean plays in the Universe That's gotta count for something..

Originally posted by johnsky
I still argue that dolphins have a greater potential IQ than humans. The only restriction there is that they do not possess the appendages necessary to do anything with it.

This is a tricky statement. Humans brains work differently than other animals in our perceptions. Our brains work on our 5 senses, and perceptions based on those senses. That's not to say that dolphins don't have an equivalent or higher data processing rate, memory, empathy or learning ability, but IQ is a very subjective measurement, even among humans. To compare the human mind to a dolphin mind may be premature, and limiting to dolphins.

After all, they have an entire section of the brain dedicated to processing and interpreting reverberant soundwaves. We have no idea what that's like. Just like we have no idea how a pit viper is able to use heat to 'see'.

And I agree, there's no chance of humans evolving from dolphins.

I don't want to be off topic (but it seems we've gotten into the topic of evolution). I recently watched this short video concerning whole genome sequencing and the connection between homo sapiens and primates. I found it fascinating. It's part of a larger lecture by Ken Miller (no relation).

www.youtube.com...

It isn't very long, but I think the whole 2 hour lecture is available on YouTube.

The more we interact with cetacians the more they become like us.

Originally posted by earthman4
The more we interact with cetacians the more they become like us.

Or is it the more we interact with them, the more we see aspects of ourselves in them. Kind of like seeing human loyalty in dogs, or rebellious independence in cats.

In a story about the same rescue incident, there is good news concerning a device that may keep dolphins from swimming into fishing nets because their sonar is unable to detect them.

"Small, football-sized devices could be inserted into fishing nets to reflect the dolphins’ own sonar, warning them away. Fildes quotes Tiltman as saying, "It will know something is there and will not just swim straight into it." "

I read it here: www.unknowncountry.com

themillersdaughter, I thought I should post the Polar bear and husky link since you pointed out this interesting story an earlier post :
nifplay.org...

Interesting PoVs from all posters. Myself, I prefer harmony and acceptance for life as it is. Dolphins may or may not be smarter than humans (always debatable), but they are smart! And brilliant too, and altruistic. That is enough to warrant learning from them!

Let us be lucky there are no underwater television sets. then dolphins and whales would no longer care about their world. They would probably go tipping sea cows and smashing reefs for fun, like the equivelant of some ignorant land mammals do today.

Yeah stupid elephants and tigers! Nah i'm just joking we should try to stop our behaviors in all generations. Try and convert it into something alot more peaceful. If the people Who do this behavior get jobs that they could convert that energy into then the human race would advance and colonize Space alot quicker! And we'd all live in a peaceful area yet i do think with more space and more colonization would cause hell.

Beautiful story - I have read that cetaceans, like humans, have spindle neurons which could be associated with emotional/compassionate responses.

Spindle neurons, also called von Economo neurons (VENs), are a specific class of neurons that participate in signal transmission in the nervous system, and are characterized by a large spindle-shaped soma, gradually tapering into a single apical dendrite (axon) in one direction, with only a single dendrite facing opposite. Whereas other types of neurons tend to have many dendrites, the polar shaped morphology of spindle neurons is unique, having only been found in two very restricted regions in the brains of hominids - the family of species comprising humans and great apes. A recent study, however, has found spindle cells in the brains of the humpback whales, fin whales, killer whales and sperm whales.[1] The name von Economo neuron comes from their discoverer, Constantin von Economo (1876-1931).

If dolphins had evolved tools and an advanced consciouscness capable of deep reflection on the Universe, they could have then developed jealousy, envy and hatred. Imagine internecine battles between dolphins and then interspecies wars between dolphins and whales...

All we can agree on is that all creatures are suited well to their enviroment. When we couldnt adapt we adapted the enviroment to us.
I do not want to be around when we destroy the unique landscapes of the planets in the galaxy (Hopefully will never happen) as it will be terrible and destructive. We should learn to move with the land. Restrictions made by the land should be restriction for all that live on it.

Deny Ignorance

Semoro