Cross-modal perception of identity by sound and taste in bottlenose dolphins
Abstract
While studies have demonstrated concept formation in animals, only humans are known to label concepts to use them in mental simulations or predictions. To investigate whether other animals use labels comparably, we studied cross-modal, individual recognition in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that use signature whistles as labels for conspecifics in their own communication. First, we tested whether dolphins could use gustatory stimuli and found that they could distinguish between water and urine samples, as well as between urine from familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Then, we paired playbacks of signature whistles of known animals with urine samples from either the same dolphin or a different, familiar animal. Dolphins investigated the presentation area longer when the acoustic and gustatory sample matched than when they mismatched. This demonstrates that dolphins recognize other individuals by gustation alone and can integrate information from acoustic and taste inputs indicating a modality independent, labeled concept for known conspecifics.
Citation
Bruck , J N , Walmsley , S F & Janik , V M 2022 , ' Cross-modal perception of identity by sound and taste in bottlenose dolphins ' , Science Advances , vol. 8 , no. 20 , eabm7684 . https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm7684
Publication
Science Advances
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2375-2548Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: The study was supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship of the European Commission, grant number 661214 (J.N.B. and V.M.J.)Collections
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