Cetacean Brain, Cognition, and Social Complexity

Marino, Lori

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-98100-6_4

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 194 publications

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“…Similarly to great apes and other highly social terrestrial mammals, cetaceans exploit socioecological niches that have been selected for some convergent adaptations such as long lifespan, large brains and high encephalization quotients (Yurk et al, 2002;Marino et al, 2007). They have been depicted as highly sociable, with a complex, organized and cooperative sociality and endowed with advanced cognitive skills (see Marino, 2022) with unique group-specific behavioral signatures including vocal repertoires and hunting and foraging tactics that do not seem to be either ecologically determined or genetically inherited (Deecke et al, 2000;Yurk, 2003;Riesch et al, 2012;Krützen et al, 2014). In fact, cetaceans are often presented as representative species of potential non-human cultural traditions with group-specific vocal repertoires and motor behaviors (Rendell and Whitehead, 2001;Whitehead and Rendell, 2014).…”

Section: Cetacean Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, cetaceans are often presented as representative species of potential non-human cultural traditions with group-specific vocal repertoires and motor behaviors (Rendell and Whitehead, 2001;Whitehead and Rendell, 2014). Accordingly, it is not surprising that they are another of the mammalian groups that are often mentioned in reviews of imitation research for possessing cognitive abilities comparable to those of great apes (Herman, 2002(Herman, , 2006(Herman, , 2010Yeater and Kuczaj II, 2010;Marino, 2022).…”

Section: Cetacean Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multimodal imitative learning and synchrony in cetaceans: A model for speech and singing evolution

et al. 2023

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Multimodal imitation of actions, gestures and vocal production is a hallmark of the evolution of human communication, as both, vocal learning and visual-gestural imitation, were crucial factors that facilitated the evolution of speech and singing. Comparative evidence has revealed that humans are an odd case in this respect, as the case for multimodal imitation is barely documented in non-human animals. While there is evidence of vocal learning in birds and in mammals like bats, elephants and marine mammals, evidence in both domains, vocal and gestural, exists for two Psittacine birds (budgerigars and grey parrots) and cetaceans only. Moreover, it draws attention to the apparent absence of vocal imitation (with just a few cases reported for vocal fold control in an orangutan and a gorilla and a prolonged development of vocal plasticity in marmosets) and even for imitation of intransitive actions (not object related) in monkeys and apes in the wild. Even after training, the evidence for productive or “true imitation” (copy of a novel behavior, i.e., not pre-existent in the observer’s behavioral repertoire) in both domains is scarce. Here we review the evidence of multimodal imitation in cetaceans, one of the few living mammalian species that have been reported to display multimodal imitative learning besides humans, and their role in sociality, communication and group cultures. We propose that cetacean multimodal imitation was acquired in parallel with the evolution and development of behavioral synchrony and multimodal organization of sensorimotor information, supporting volitional motor control of their vocal system and audio-echoic-visual voices, body posture and movement integration.

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Section: Cetacean Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cetacean Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal imitative learning and synchrony in cetaceans: A model for speech and singing evolution

et al. 2023

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“…Accordingly, the EQ of the LCA of cetaceans and their living sister-grouphipposhas been estimated at 0.465, well below the mammalian average (Montgomery et al, 2013). Endocasts of the first fully aquatic cetaceans, the Palaeogene (∼53 to ∼30 Myr ago) Archaeoceti, show very limited change in EQ relative to this ancestral baseline (Montgomery et al, 2013;Marx et al, 2016;Marino, 2022).…”

Section: Cetaceansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the mid-late Cenozoic witnessed two major encephalization pulses in cetaceans, accompanied by significant cortical expansion and restructuring (Marino et al, 2004;Montgomery et al, 2013;Marino, 2022). The first occurred with the Oligocene (∼35 Myr ago) emergence of the Neoceti, comprising present-day baleen (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti).…”

Section: Cetaceansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, the timing of cetacean encephalization suggests that there is nothing cognitively special about secondarily aquatic vertebrates per se (Marino et al, 2007;Marino, 2022). Extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, such as the dolphin-like ichthyosaurs, are extremely unlikely candidates for dolphinlike intelligence (Edinger, 1948).…”

Section: The Silurian Hypothesis: a Palaeontological Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Children of time: the geological recency of intelligence and its implications for SETI

Mussini

2023

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Of all species on Earth, only one – Homo sapiens – has developed a technological civilization. As a consequence, estimates of the number of similar civilizations beyond Earth often treat the emergence of human-like intelligence or ‘sophonce’ as an evolutionary unicum: a contingent event unlikely to repeat itself even in biospheres harbouring complex brains, tool use, socially transmitted behaviours and high general intelligence. Here, attention is drawn to the unexpected recency and temporal clustering of these evolutionary preconditions to sophonce, which are shown to be confined to the last ≤102 million years. I argue that this pattern can be explained by the exponential biotic diversification dynamics suggested by the fossil record, which translated into a nonlinearly expanding range of cognitive and behavioural outcomes over the course of Earth's history. As a result, the probability of sophonce arising out of a buildup of its enabling preconditions has been escalating throughout the Phanerozoic. The implications for the Silurian hypothesis and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are discussed. I conclude that the transition from animal-grade multicellularity to sophonce is likely not a rate-limiting step in the evolution of extraterrestrial technological intelligences, and that while H. sapiens is probably the first sophont to evolve on Earth, on macroevolutionary grounds it is unlikely to be the last.

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Helping Marine Mammals Cope with Humans

Sciara

Würsig

2022

Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals

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Cetacean Brain, Cognition, and Social Complexity

Cited by 5 publications

References 194 publications

Multimodal imitative learning and synchrony in cetaceans: A model for speech and singing evolution

Multimodal imitative learning and synchrony in cetaceans: A model for speech and singing evolution

Children of time: the geological recency of intelligence and its implications for SETI

Helping Marine Mammals Cope with Humans

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