The dolphin is considered a very intelligent animal, next after humans. The
dolphin can not only immitate the signs made by humans but they can integrate
them into a larger context.
For instance, when the gestures of the trainer suggest a jump followed by a
salute, the dolphin understands that it has to jump, and then, to greet the
public.
However, even if dolphins seem to understand easily gestures, they do not seem
to have abilities to associate an action to a symbolic message.
The dolphin builds easily normal long-range models, not only story-type models
as some other animals.
At the same time, they could reach even level 2 of conciousness, if it could
be proven that they build their own correlation models with the group to which
they belong (as it seems to be the case for captive dolphins).
Note: many species of animals hunt in packs. Usually, the model of correlation
is situated in PSM. The superiority of an animal is given by the capacity to
build its own correlation model with the pack or with other beings, human or
animals, (level 2 of consciousness). It is not easy to see this essential
difference, as the apparent behaviour can be the same.
The theory does not exclude the possibility of level 2 consciousness, on image
models (of course) for the dolphins.
This would mean e.g. that a dolphin anticipates the action of another and will
act in advance, based on prediction, in the frame of a normal model, imposed
by the trainer (not a model of the PSM, as the ones associated to instincts).
There could be some difficulties to understand what happens, due to the reason
shown in the note above.
Some other things result from the theory. Thus, the basic characteristic of
the environment where the dolphin lives, is the lack of landmarks. Whatever
the capacity of interaction with external reality is, the dolphin in the ocean
cannot build models of the environment in which it lives, due to the lack of
landmarks. It can't mark the territory to use marks in building models of the
territory. Even if it might make maps of the magnetic field of the Earth,
these maps are not precise enough to have good landmarks. Even if it had
precise landmarks (near the coastline), they could be used only for local
navigation.
Using the terminology of my theory, one could say that the dolphin has
schizophrenia induced by the environment.
Captivity should increase the level of intelligence of the dolphins, due to an
environment with landmarks. These can stimulate it to use its brain to a
higher capacity closer to its theoretical possibilities. However, experiments
up to date do not show abilities to build symbolic models, as in the case of
some monkeys, even if on image models, dolphin brain seems to be very advanced
for an animal.
Observations about the limited survival of dolphins in captivity can be
related to the fact, that, in captivity, they build very fast the exact model
of the space available. After a while (see "stress") the space is known very
well and this could be a cause of stress. A strong brain needs always new
information. The solution could be a larger environment, in which,
additionally, the configuration should be changed every now and then. Contrary
to general belief, animals, including dolphins, should feel better in
interaction with man in a controlled environment, in the above conditions,
than in liberty.