However, according to the latest research, the evolution of dolphins seems to be somewhat unexpected to scientists. According to scientists, dolphins already have some human characteristics!
Dolphins evolved human characteristics in the ocean?
Dolphins are a general term for some toothed whales, so dolphins are a kind of whales, and there are dozens of species under the family Dolphinidae. For example, the baiji dolphin in China is also a kind of dolphin. Their body length ranges from 1 m, 30 kilograms of Jurassic dolphins to 9.5 meters, and killer whales weigh 14 tons. Using echolocation, they have high IQ, complicated sulcus and good memory.
Psychologists from Hull University have studied 134 bottlenose dolphins from eight countries for nearly ten years. The results show that their curiosity, sociality and "personality characteristics" are completely chimeras with the "extroversion and goodwill" of primates, which means that they also have their own unique personality characteristics.
They found that, just like primates, aquatic mammals such as dolphins show curiosity, sociality and personality traits, which is a combination of "extroversion and goodwill". Usually, these professional terms are used to describe monkeys and apes, but previous studies think that they have similar "personality characteristics" with humans.
Dr Blake Morton, a psychologist at Hull University, said that animals like dolphins are as social as primates. Living in groups and socializing contribute to the intellectual development of dolphins. Dr Blake called this "social way" of chimpanzees and bottlenose dolphins a "fission-fusion" society. Their group size and organization members often change during their life cycle: splitting or merging.
Paper by Dr. Blake Morton's team
People's psychological characteristics are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, and the last one is also called neuroticism.
Researchers have studied 134 dolphins (56 males and 78 females). The results show that the characteristics of bottlenose dolphins almost conform to this model, including openness, sociality and emotional instability, but the fourth direction, that is, the mixture of high seriousness and low neuroticism, is unique to dolphins. Even so, Dr. Morton still said that dolphins are very similar to humans. Dolphins, like other primates, have a brain capacity that far exceeds the capacity needed to perform basic body functions!
Dr Morton said that studying the cleverest animals in the ocean will help us understand ourselves.
Dolphins with human characteristics, how do they mate?
Dolphins are the most lovely marine animals, but scientists define them as one of the most "abnormal" animals, especially male dolphins, which are not much different from "animals". Sorry, dolphins are actually animals!
The bottlenose dolphins in the above article have been taking violent actions in breeding. A group of adult male dolphins often surround the female dolphins in groups, and then beat the uncooperative female dolphins with their fins, or even directly collide with them until the female dolphins cooperate to breed. Although the process of the male dolphin is very violent, the time is short, and it only takes 10-20 seconds to end the battle.
It is said that this is because the reproductive structure of dolphins is quite special. For example, the male dolphin's genital muscles are so strong that he can even carry things, while the female dolphin's internal muscles can move by themselves in a zigzag way. A few seconds later, the male dolphin handed over his gun.
Besides violence, male dolphins sometimes fall in love with each other. They may even find a same-sex life, or they can solve their own problems with the corpses of other animals. Of course, it is very normal for their descendants or their ancestors to behave inappropriately. So zoologists say that dolphins are one of the most chaotic species among animals, even more chaotic than bonobos!
Further reading: How do humans treat lovely dolphins?
Dolphins, an animal with high IQ, do no harm to human beings except that they are a little confused in sexual relations. They can save your life when you are in danger, and they are also good friends. But how do humans treat them?
There are Faroe Islands and Japan that kill dolphins on a large scale in the world, especially the latter, killing more than tens of thousands of dolphins. For example, in 2007, 13080 whales and dolphins were killed in Japan, of which 1569 were killed in Taiji Town. The documentary "Dolphin Bay" was filmed in Taiji Town, of course, in the form of sneak shots, thus killing dolphins in Japan.
However, even after it was made public, Japan went its own way, and the so-called "scientific whaling" in the South Pacific was still going on like crazy. After all, international conventions that such honest people abide by are not binding on countries that have no lower limit.
Black whales are also called killer whales, but they have no real record of killing people in the ocean. However, in the summer of 2020, killer whales madly attacked sailboats near the Strait of Gibraltar. There were more than 40 incidents in the whole summer, but they only attacked the rudder and never stopped until they tore it into pieces!
According to biologist Dr. Renault de Stephanis, the companions of these killer whales who madly attacked the rudder were injured by the rudder of the sailboat, so they avenged their companions, which may lead to a result. Once this highly intelligent animal thinks that human beings are enemies, our future activities in the ocean will be greatly hindered. After all, killer whales can easily tear people to pieces.