Do you think other animals besides ourselves plan for the future? See for yourself whether momma dolphins like Keyhole Notch plan to come to John’s Pass to have their babies.
Everyone plans for the future. But we never get exactly where we planned to go. Or if we do, it’s not at all how we envisioned it. Stumbling on Happiness is an easy-to-read book by Daniel Gilbert devoted to exploring this irony. It’s worth reading.
Gilbert begins by pointing out that we’re the only future-thinking animals. He then proceeds to usher forth a profound number of studies that together show how phenomenally ill-equipped we actually are to think about the future.
What I found ironic was that, of all his evidence, he didn’t include even one study that shows we’re the only future-thinking animal. His fleeting but confident edict that we are caught my attention like a challenge.
On a lovely spring day in April this year, two female bottlenose dolphins popped about here and there through serene green waters. Each pursued breakfast in widely different parts of a broad bay.
Keyhole Notch used the bubbling technique. Submerging, she vocalized with sufficient decibels to disturb hidden fish out of hiding. I couldn’t see her much. But I could trace her path by the trail of bubbles gurgling regularly to the surface.
Osiris, named for the god of benevolence, used a different tactic. She roamed over great distances, searching for fast-moving prey.
By and by, with that splendid communication between widely separated dolphins, the two ended breakfast, swam to each other and slowly headed south side by side. While feeding, they didn’t look like they were together. But the obvious coordination of their subsequent convergence and departure meant they were showing “separately together” behavior.
Just a few days ago, we found them again. Osiris was still sprinting around. But this time, she sprinted to herd her tiny shiny newborn anywhere the boat wasn’t. We kept a good distance to avoid stressing her and the newborn, whose rickety swimming attested to its blatant youth. The more we backed off, the more she slowed down. Her curiosity took over. They meandered by the boat, heading towards another mother and new calf in another patch of water.
The other mother was Keyhole Notch. The little quartet fell together is a slow shoulder-to-shoulder swim. Intermittently, a newborn popped up over the water, unceremoniously splashing back down on its tiny new chin. An experienced observer can roughly gauge the age of a newborn by this splashy swim style. Keyhole Notch’s new baby was maybe two weeks old. Osiris’ newborn was fractionally older.
Keyhole Notch must have good eyesight. She often surfaced with her head over the water to frankly peer at the boat now escorting them on the southward heading.
As I snapped pictures as evidence of their presence, I pondered how they’d appeared here in mid-April and lingered until now (late June). Had they come here in April anticipating the births? If they did, wouldn’t that suggest planning?
There was one way to find out: Look at their annual appearance patterns. The null hypothesis was that they did not plan. This would be suggested if they did the same thing every year and this year was no different.
The alternative was that they did plan. This would be suggested if this year’s appearance pattern was quite different than previous years. (I can’t tell you what their future patterns are but evidently, my speculations would be glaringly unreliable!)
I tackled the record of dolphin appearances with great curiosity. Would our dolphins take on a respected Harvard scientist?
I can give you the exact details but I’ll cut to the chase. To the extent that our observations really are a good representative sample of their behavior (god forbid, seven years, 600 surveys and an estimated 3000 dolphin encounters to date are not sufficient!)…
Keyhole Notch: Her pattern is to appear in mid-summer with two exceptions. Last year (2008) was unusual in that she did come came early (though not as early as this year), but stayed a couple of days and did not return. More damning is 2007, when she appeared with a tiny shiny newborn in May. IF her early appearance in April this year implicates planning, she did not appear to plan in 2007. However, absence of data is only absence of data, not evidence she didn’t plan. For the other four years, she showed up in the middle of summer.
Osiris: Her pattern is to appear in mid-summer with one exception. Her damning exception was 2007, when she came to town with Keyhole Notch and the tiny shiny newborn in May. Otherwise, 2009 is the only year she came early.
Say, what time it is? I have to make plans for my day! On the other hand, Dr. Gilbert, I guess I really don’t have to bother!
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Send her an e-mail at dazzled@tampabay.rr.com or visit www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
![[Image]](/content_images/062509_out-01.jpg)
