捕鯨とクジラ保護

Dr. John C. Lilly, who has provided extensive research on dolphins, performed the following two experiments which I consider well worthy of notice.


Using a mind probe set in the brain, which when stimulated with an electrical current gave the dolphin a rewarding sensation, Dr. Lilly set up a switch where Dolphin #6 could reward himself by pushing a lever. "While I was assembling it, I noticed that the dolphin was closely watching what I was doing. Almost before I could finish assembling and placing the rods necessary to push the switch (which was out of the water above the animal), the dolphin started pushing on the rod. By the time the switch was connected to the rest of the apparatus he had learned the proper way to push it."6
There was no random or apparent accidental contacts before the dolphin learned how. The same thing happened with three different dolphins. They seemed to anticipate the purpose of the switch. Probably from seeing him push it and connecting the push to the reward. Dr. Lilly had used this same technique on monkeys and made the statement that it usually took a chimp about 100 random tries before he learned to push the button, and then a few more to learn how to push the button.


Dr. Lilly was attempting to make Dolphin #8 whistle a burst of a given pitch, duration and intensity in order to obtain a reward. The dolphin quickly caught on. Every time he whistled his blowhole would move and a whistle would be emitted. Then Dr. Lilly noticed that the dolphin had added a new rule to the game. He was raising the pitch of each subsequent whistle. Suddenly, the blowhole twitched, but no sound. He had passed our hearing range. No sound -- no reward. Dolphin #8 emitted two more supersonic twitches and the third was hearable. From that time on he did not go out of Dr. Lilly's acoustic range. The Dolphin had determined what his hearing range was and stayed within it.
Unfortunately the water temperature dropped too low and this dolphin was lost shortly after this session.7