Are Dolphins Smarter Than Humans?

Dolphins

I think dolphins are an amazingly interesting mammal. They are said to be one of the most intelligent animals on our planet. Did you know that dolphins are said to sleep using only one part of their brain? They use one hemisphere of their brain to go into a deep sleep, while the another part of their brain remains more aware to enable them to breathe and stay alert for danger.

Dolphins have great eyesight above or below water. Their hearing is excellent too and up to ten times better than human hearing. They incorporate their lower jaw bones as part of their hearing but have similar inner or middle ear structures as any other mammal. They also use their hearing similar to bats for echolocation, which is like radar. Dolphins are believed to not have a sense of smell, but do have a good sense of taste and feed on their favorite fish or squid.

In dolphins, they have discovered "spindle cells" which are a unique neuron, known to be only in the brains of mammals of higher intelligence. They are usually only found in humans, certain types of apes, elephants and whales.

Schools of dolphins are usually called pods and can range in numbers to as many as hundreds or much more. They will often group together and cooperate to "round up" schools of small fish to eat.

There are many places that people can actually go and interact with dolphins in their own ocean environment. I have personally seen this in the Key West area a few years ago. I have heard of many stories of how dolphins have attacked sharks in what seems to be a rescue attempt when swimmers or surfers are threatened by the sharks.

I think that dolphins should be treated with the utmost of respect, not only for being a fellow inhabitant of our planet but also until we can establish just how intelligent our friends from the sea are!