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davepamn davepamn
 
M$1 June 02, 2009 03:19 AM

How smart are Blue Whales?

Blue whales have the biggest brain on earth. They can communicate from North to South pole. What other intelligent behavior can a blue whale perform?
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easyeboy easyeboy
 
 June 02, 2009 03:51 AM
The blue whale's brain is nearly ten times the size of a human brain and weighs in at 6kg, compared to the 1.4kg of a human brain. So, the blue whale must be pretty smart, and in fact they are one of the smartest creatures on the planet earth, or in the sea, as well as the biggest. Likewise, the blue whale are highly social animals and have complex language and intelligence capabilities which allow them to communicate and make sounds that are larger than a jet plane, and this sound will travel hundreds of miles through water. Blue whales can learn languages (watch the video), yet the question is that nobody really teaches them (nor do humans understand them), nor do they have the same vocal cords that humans do to sing, but they have spoken quite well, and loudly they speak. They don't go to school to read or write, nor do they probably use as much as their brains can hold. Some of the smartest creatures in the sea are a mystery to man, and we do not know what their full capacity is. They can probably do lots of interesting things, if we had the ability to train them, yet the one challenge is their size. It would be interesting to see some of the things blue whales can actually do if they were taken to their limits.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Whale
http://www.animaltrial.com/whales/bluewhales.html
http://news.softpedia.com/news/13-Amazing-Facts-About-Whales-68659.shtml
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/Insidebrain/brainevolution.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/327001/interesting_facts_about_blu...
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/03/04/blue-whale-fun-facts/

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rickg rickg
 
June 02, 2009 04:20 AM
It's probably not a good measure of intelligence to look entirely at brain size. While the whale's brain may be 10 times the size of a human brain (you should check your numbers, btw, you have 6kg vs 1.4kg, which is only a factor of 4), its body is 1000 times the size of a human. So its brain-to-body ratio would be 100 times smaller than a human's. Arguments are much better for high intelligence in the smaller cetaceans, though, again, animal intelligence is *really* hard to measure in human terms.

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easyeboy easyeboy
 
June 02, 2009 05:10 AM
Size and weight are two different measurements. I read somewhere that the blue whale's brain is 10 times the size. Size isn't a measure of intelligence. Also, you're right we can't measure them in comparison to humans, as they are completely different animals.

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rickg rickg
 
June 02, 2009 04:14 AM
They're probably about as smart as they need to be to be blue whales.

Animal intelligence is very hard to quantify. We can measure humans against human standards, but how do you measure blue whales against human standards?

They'd better be very good at finding krill to eat, or they'll starve to death. I couldn't even *begin* to find krill in the middle of an ocean. So, in that particular task, a blue whale is an utter genius, at least compared to me.

They have to be able to find each other over large distances, through an only somewhat transparent medium, so they'd better be able to communicate using distinctive sounds that travel a long way through the ocean. We need special equipment to do that, so, again, they've got the edge over us, at least us-without-technology.

Not saying they don't have some form of intelligence and/or sentience. Other cetaceans have been shown to have some sense of "self-awareness", which is definitely a higher order thinking skill. But it's not at all clear what their level of abstract reasoning ability is, or even how to measure it.

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davepamn davepamn
 
June 02, 2009 04:45 AM
What about the signing Gorilla with a 3,000 symbol language?

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rickg rickg
 
June 02, 2009 05:02 AM
It would certainly be easier to compare a gorilla to a human, given that we're at least reasonably closely related. The great apes clearly display some intelligence of a kind that's familiar to us. But we are *very* different from whales. Again, they may, even probably, have some sentience; it's just really, really hard to quantify.

And all animal species put us to shame at surviving in their own particular niches.

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davepamn davepamn
 
June 02, 2009 02:20 PM
I have a brother-in-law, who can talk with his cat, Kitty. They have a weird language. The cat response to his body language and words and responses back with behavior and sounds that make me think, the cat understands.

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davepamn davepamn
 
June 02, 2009 02:23 PM
Big cats are intelligent. I read a book, where the trainer liked to put his cranium inside the mouth of the lion. The cat has a soothing sound. In nature, it was believe the sound helped the prey stop struggling.

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ricochetx ricochetx
 
June 02, 2009 06:01 AM
Considering the laws of proportions and that the Blue Whale is the largest animal on Earth, it would make sense that they have the largest brain as well.

I think many animals are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. I own a snake and I am amazed at how often I can practically watch her think through certain situations (specifically how to escape her tank).

I know you're asking about Blue whales, but I just recently saw a show about Humpback whales and a hunting technique that they have. Since they are both a species of Baleen whale, I suppose it is applicable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJvfjiCTvq4&eurl=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/03/16/whale-of-a-time-115875-21202999/&feature=player_embedded

It demonstrates teamwork and cognitive thinking; the basis of the technique is the fact that the whales know that the fish will not swim through bubbles, so they create a net of bubbles to catch the fish. Amazing, in my opinion.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_Whale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Whale


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