Dolphins are truly fascinating creatures. They have extremely sophisticated brain architecture that definitely supports at least some degree of sentience. Some species like humpback whales, orcas (but curiously not Tursiops) have von Economo neurons (VENs)that have been connected to vocal learning, language and even theory of mind.Cetacean cortical surface area is quite large (https://twitter.com/Cetalingua/status/932631255165886464?ref...
and brain architecture in general is amazing, like visual cortex being next to the auditory cortex (https://twitter.com/Cetalingua/status/901590689091387393?ref...)
Add to that conscious breathing, unihemispheric sleep, cognitive preparation and fully conscious control of cardiovascular system, conscious planning and preparation for dives. Some species (pygmy sperm whales) have magnetite crystals in their brains and probably have some sort of magnetoreception for navigation, and the list goes on and on.
Our challenge is to make sense of it all, and how can we even do it, our auditory cortex is nowhere near our visual cortex.
In pygmy sperm whales, magnetite crystals appear to be concentrated in the rostroventral dura, but we know next to nothing about how they function or are used, let alone about how they are being formed.
Add to that conscious breathing, unihemispheric sleep, cognitive preparation and fully conscious control of cardiovascular system, conscious planning and preparation for dives. Some species (pygmy sperm whales) have magnetite crystals in their brains and probably have some sort of magnetoreception for navigation, and the list goes on and on.
Our challenge is to make sense of it all, and how can we even do it, our auditory cortex is nowhere near our visual cortex.