Dolphin Communication and Cognition

Description

Experts survey the latest research on dolphin communication and cognition, offering a comprehensive reference to findings in the laboratory and from the field.

Dolphin researchers have collected an impressive amount of data over the last twenty years, thanks to advances in technology for monitoring, recording, and analyzing dolphin behavior as well as increasing interest in exploring and modeling dolphins’ cognitive capacities. This volume offers a comprehensive reference to the latest research on dolphin communication and cognition, reporting on findings from both the laboratory and the field. The contributors review a wide range of topics, including vocalization, abstract reasoning abilities, imitation and learning, social cognition, echolocation, and ethical issues in working with cetaceans.

The book begins by examining the dolphin brain and its evolution, the anatomy of its unique sound production and reception systems, and its sensory abilities. It next treats communication, reviewing the complexity of dolphins’ vocalization, and then describes research on cognition, from both experimental and developmental perspectives. Finally, the book considers the future of dolphin research, including a series of provocative questions that remain unanswered, posed by the volume’s expert contributors.

Contributors
Mats Amundin, Whitlow Au, Ted W. Cranford, Nicola Erdsack, John Ford, Wolf Hanke, Louis M. Herman, Denise L. Herzing, Christine M. Johnson, Petr Krysl, Stan Kuczaj, Marc Lammers, Lori Marino, Paul Nachtigall, Julie Oswald, Adam A. Pack, Heidi Pearson, Sam Ridgway, Jeanette Thomas, Randall Wells, Thomas I. White, Hal Whitehead, Kelley Winship, Bernd WürsigPreface ix
I Anatomy and Senses 1
1 The Brain: Evolution, Structure, and Function 3
Lori Marino
2 Sound Production and Sound Reception in Delphinoids 19
Ted W. Cranford, Mats Amundin, and Petr Krysl
3 Ecology and Evolution of Dolphin Sensory Systems 49
Wolf Hanke and Nicola Erdsack
II Dolphin Communication 75
4 Dolphin Societies: Structure and Function 77
Bernd W ü rsig and Heidi C. Pearson
5 Analyzing the Acoustic Communication of Dolphins 107
Marc O. Lammers and Julie N. Oswald
6 Making Sense of It All: Multimodal Dolphin Communication 139
Denise L. Herzing
III Dolphin Cognition 173
7 Experimental Studies of Dolphin Cognitive Abilities 175
Adam A. Pack
8 How Do Dolphin Calves Make Sense of Their World? 201
Stan A. Kuczaj II and Kelley A. Winship
IV Future Directions of Dolphin Research 227
9 The Cognitive Ecology of Dolphin Social Engagement 229
Christine M. Johnson
10 Whales, Dolphins, and Ethics: A Primer 257
Thomas I. White
11 Visions of the Future 271
Whitlow Au, John Ford, Louis M. Herman, Paul Nachtigall, Sam Ridgway, Jeanette
Thomas, Randall Wells, Hal Whitehead, Christine M. Johnson, and Denise L. Herzing
Contributors 299
Index 301Denise L. Herzing is Research Director and Founder of the Wild Dolphin Project and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University.

Christine M. Johnson is on the faculty of the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego.US

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