There is a discussion going on concerning the treatment of dolphins in captivity based on suggestions that their high intelligence places them in more morally and ethically objective circumstances like, for example, confining dolphins to perform in marine parks or to swim with tourists at resorts and may be “potentially psychologically harmful to dolphins and present a misinformed picture of their natural intellectual capacities.”

At first this sounds kinda hokey, but Emory University neuroscientist, Lori Marino, is making her opinion heard when she spoke on the anatomical basis of dolphin intelligence at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference (AAAS) in San Diego, on Feb. 21, 2010

Here are some other points she’s made:

• Many modern dolphin brains are significantly larger than our own and second in mass to the human brain when corrected for body size
• Some dolphin brains exhibit features correlated with complex intelligence, including a large expanse of neocortical volume that is more convoluted than our own, extensive insular and cingulated regions, and highly differentiated cellular regions
• Dolphins are sophisticated, self-aware, highly intelligent beings with individual personalities, autonomy and an inner life. They are vulnerable to tremendous suffering and psychological trauma

Source: Science Daily
Image: Flickr, Creative Commons, By Attribution