Scientists test Japanese dolphins’ visual capacity with plasma TVs
By ANISaturday, July 24, 2010
MELBOURNE - Japanese scientists are testing visual capacity of dolphins by screening nature movies on big screen plasma TVs in front of their tanks.
Researchers from the Umikirara Aquarium in southern Japan and Tokiwa University in central Japan are showing bottlenose dolphins Nami and Nina images of killer whales and dolphins.
According to the Japan Times “When the screen shows images of dolphins for a few seconds, the two move their heads slowly as if to ask ‘who are you?’”
Scientists record the eye movements to see if they coincide with the sea mammals’ differentiating between images, reports the Daily Telegraph.
“If we could find this out, we would be able to understand more about dolphins’ social lives and gain clues about their evolution,” said associate professor Fumio Nakahara. (ANI)
