Switching strategies: a dolphin’s use of passive and
active acoustics to imitate motor actions
Animal Cognition, 16 (5):
701--709 (2013)DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0605-3
Abstract
Scientists have long debated the extent to which
animals can imitate. Observations of bottlenose
dolphins suggest a sophisticated capacity for social
imitation, but little is known about the nature of
these abilities. Here, we explore the behavioral
mechanisms underlying a dolphin’s ability to copy
motor actions while blindfolded (i.e., wearing
eyecups). When a dolphin was asked to imitate a
dolphin, a human, and then another dolphin blindfolded,
his accuracy remained relatively consistent across
models. However, his blindfolded echolocation
dramatically increased when copying a human as compared
to other dolphins, suggesting he actively switched
between strategies: recognizing behaviors via
characteristic sounds when possible, but via
echolocation for the more novel sounding behaviors of
the human. Such flexibility in changing perceptual
routes demonstrates that the dolphin’s imitation was
not automatically elicited, but rather results from an
intentional, problem-solving approach to imitation.