New findings have shown that dolphins can perform complex feats of math that defy human computer systems. When hunting, dolphins blow “bubble nets” but are still able to use sonar, “counting clicks” through the mass of bubbles. This ability seems to prove that the animals can do complex nonlinear math calculations.

Dolphins appear to have a mathematical ability to “cancel out” bubbles in their sonar systems. Human sonar systems would be baffled and confused by bubbles, but dolphins can mathematically look past them. A team of underwater acoustic scientists at the University of Southampton have been attempting to unravel how dolphins hunt while also blinding themselves. They discovered that the dolphins can still distinguish their true target past all the clutter that the bubbles generate in their way. Dolphins are either blinding their echolocation sense, or they have a facility absent in man-made sonar say the researchers.

The facility in the dolphin sonar seems to be variations in “clicks” which allow them to see through the net of bubbles. The ability implies a command of complex nonlinear maths. Dolphins also have some other surprising abilities. Dolphins can recognize themselves in mirrors, and also have a sense of social identity. Dolphins not only know who they are, but they have a sense of who, where and what their groups are.

Dolphins have always fascinated me, especially when you begin to realize how intelligent they are. They are way smarter than anything else on the planet, except maybe for us. This makes you realize that if dolphins weren’t restricted by their biology and environment, they might be just as creative and innovative as us. As humans, we have the ability to construct our environment to our specifications. Dolphins may be just as smart, but don’t have the physical and biological capability to alter their environment quite the way we do.

Dolphins have also been on this Earth way longer then we have. Researchers are not sure exactly how long, but they believe that it is in the millions of years. They are able to interact with us in the ocean, and there have been cases of dolphins saving humans from drowning, recognizing that they were in trouble. Their consciousness and awareness might just be the same as ours, they just can’t express it quite like we can. While we can make devices to travel the deep seas where dolphins inhabit, dolphins don’t have the luxury to create devices to travel on land, and even outer space for that matter. Looks like we got the lucky end of the biological draw.

via