Dolphins And Whales Form Human-like Societies, Study Says

18 October 2017

 - They work together, talk to each other and use tools. A new study links the complexity of Cetacean culture and behavior to the size of their brains.

Whales and dolphins (Cetaceans) live in tightly-knit social groups, have complex relationships, talk to each other and even have regional dialects – much like human societies. A new study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on October 16, 2017, has linked the complexity of Cetacean culture and behavior to the size of their brains.

The study created a large dataset of information on brain size and social behaviors of 90 different species of dolphins, whales, and porpoises. It found overwhelming evidence that the animals have sophisticated social and cooperative behavior traits, similar to many found in human culture.

According to the study, these societal and cultural characteristics are linked with brain size and brain expansion, known as encephalisation, defined as the amount of brain mass related to an animal’s total body mass.