0:00:05 > 0:00:08I've spent most of my life out watching animals.
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Ever since I was a child,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I've been fascinated by their lives and behaviour.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19But in truth, it's never seemed quite enough.
0:00:19 > 0:00:25I would give anything to be another animal for just five minutes -
0:00:25 > 0:00:30to be able to experience the world the way they perceive it,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32to know what they're thinking,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35to be inside the animal mind.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42And what I find most intriguing are the minds of the cleverest animals.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49These most intelligent of animals all live in groups.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51And it's made me wonder.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Could there be a direct relationship between needing to navigate
0:00:58 > 0:01:03the hurly-burly of a complex social life and actually being clever?
0:01:03 > 0:01:08In short, could being a social animal actually make you
0:01:08 > 0:01:10a more intelligent animal?
0:01:13 > 0:01:17I'm going to explore the minds of the most social animals.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19And in particular,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23the one that many people believe to be exceptional -
0:01:23 > 0:01:25dolphins.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28I'm going to be swimming with them
0:01:28 > 0:01:32to find out what goes on in dolphin society.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34- Get signal?- Roger that.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39Using cutting-edge technology to listen in on their conversations...
0:01:42 > 0:01:46..and discovering their ability to recognise themselves.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Wow, look at that.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And that's not all.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Because, as we look into the minds of other social animals,
0:01:55 > 0:02:01we'll also find out more about a species much closer to home -
0:02:01 > 0:02:03we humans.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06So, could it be that by delving into their minds,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10we actually begin to learn something more about our own?
0:02:34 > 0:02:36I've come here to the sub-tropical island of Bimini,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39just 40 miles east of Florida,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43and the reason I've come is that these crystal-clear shallow waters
0:02:43 > 0:02:47are home to a highly social animal that's always fascinated me
0:02:47 > 0:02:51but it's not an animal that I've ever met face-to-face
0:02:51 > 0:02:55in the wild, not an animal that I've encountered in its world.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Kathleen Dudzinski
0:03:09 > 0:03:13and Kel Sweeting are experts on the Atlantic spotted dolphin.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18They've been studying the social lives of a group
0:03:18 > 0:03:22of about 100 dolphins in the Bimini waters for over a decade
0:03:22 > 0:03:24and they're optimistic
0:03:24 > 0:03:27I might be able to see some really revealing behaviour.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33The researchers identify individuals using their distinctive spot
0:03:33 > 0:03:37patterns and they now know the age and sex of many of them.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Do you think that any of these animals that you've been
0:03:41 > 0:03:44working with for some time now, how long have you been here?
0:03:44 > 0:03:46This is my 11th research season.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49OK, 11 seasons in the sea, do you think that they might
0:03:49 > 0:03:52recognise you as much as you recognise them?
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Am I wearing my science hat or my I'm-having-fun hat?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58You can be subjective here.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00I think that they do.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05And I would hope that after this much time and earning their trust perhaps,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07that they know it's me.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Dolphins are easy to romanticise and for that reason,
0:04:13 > 0:04:18I've always been a bit sceptical about just how intelligent they are.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Is their social life really as intricate,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24really as sophisticated as people claim?
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Well, today, I might find out
0:04:28 > 0:04:33because this is the first time that I've swum with wild dolphins.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Look at the conditions, the sun shining, the sea is blue,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42and these stunning animals are just about ten metres behind me.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43I'm itching to get in, itching.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47OK, Al, we're ready when you are.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15We're lucky and are quickly surrounded by a pod of 16 dolphins
0:05:15 > 0:05:17from the Bimini group.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Kathleen is filming everything
0:05:20 > 0:05:23so if we see any interesting social behaviour,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26we can study it in more detail later.
0:05:27 > 0:05:33And the dolphins swarm around, creating bubbles with their tails.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37DOLPHINS WHISTLE
0:05:39 > 0:05:42But then they do something strange.
0:05:44 > 0:05:49They start to use their beaks to push each other through the water.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03- That was awesome.- That was amazing. - Very cool.- Very cool.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05That has rocketed into the charts
0:06:05 > 0:06:07as one of my greatest animal encounters.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Just to lay there on the surface,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11albeit being buffeted by quite a bit of surf,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14but looking down and seeing all of it, I can't wait to see it again,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17it was too much to take in on the first occasion.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23The behaviour we just saw is unusual -
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Kathleen and Kel have only seen it a few times before.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30So, firstly, which were the animals that were there?
0:06:30 > 0:06:32What ages and did you know any individuals?
0:06:32 > 0:06:38We definitely saw Split-jaw, Billy, Tim and Speedy
0:06:38 > 0:06:42who are four males that often associate with each other.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Split-jaw is the oldest of the group,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Billy and Tim are similar in age, and Speedy's a little bit younger.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52- So they're friends?- It certainly looks like that way.- Yeah.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57When you look at their behaviour from different angles,
0:06:57 > 0:07:02a surprising story of complex social relationships emerges.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07What appeared to be a random ball of eight dolphins actually
0:07:07 > 0:07:11contains the three friends...
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Dolphins cement the strong bond between them
0:07:21 > 0:07:24by touching each other's pectoral fins.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Billy and Tim's association - they're both 13 years old -
0:07:31 > 0:07:35has lasted many years and they're core members of this Bimini group.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43Dolphins are very complex social animals. They use a variety
0:07:43 > 0:07:46of signals to share information, so they use sounds,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48they use posture, they use behaviours,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51they use interaction between individuals.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54And their society is complex.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Here again is that strange pushing behaviour.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07A juvenile male presents his belly to five others.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12We know that one of these is the seven-year-old male "Number 95".
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Together, they use their beaks to push the other dolphin
0:08:17 > 0:08:19through the water.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Here Speedy's involved in the pushing too.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Why the dolphins do this is a mystery.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The scientists are sure that it's not sexual behaviour
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and obviously the dolphins are not fighting.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Kathleen and Kel think it might be a form of play -
0:08:39 > 0:08:41a sort of initiation rite
0:08:41 > 0:08:46allowing juveniles to learn the rules of social life.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49It certainly seems the case when you have a group of young individuals
0:08:49 > 0:08:52that they're sort of testing the waters if you will,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54trying to see who gets along with whom,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57will this animal tolerate me being this close,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00or are they just somebody I don't really want to be that close to,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and so they're sort of setting those relationships as youngsters.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09It's been an absolute privilege
0:09:09 > 0:09:12to observe these wild dolphins first-hand.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Their bustling social world is far more complex
0:09:15 > 0:09:17than I could have ever imagined.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22But the power of the dolphin mind is even more apparent
0:09:22 > 0:09:25when they band together to hunt.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:09:33 > 0:09:36In these shallow waters further down the coast of Florida,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41individual dolphins find it hard to catch the fast-moving fish.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46But watch what happens when they act as a group.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51One dolphin swims in a circle.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58It whips up a wall of muddy water that corrals any fish inside.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Three wait, anticipating what the other is doing.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The fish are driven right into their mouths.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Here, one comes around again to create another corral.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23They've cleverly worked out an efficient way to catch fish.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30This is extraordinary group behaviour
0:10:30 > 0:10:34and it tells us much about the ingenuity of the dolphin mind.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38You see, if they're co-operating,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42it means the dolphins can communicate with each other -
0:10:42 > 0:10:47they must possess some kind of language.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50So, is the language of social animals
0:10:50 > 0:10:53something that we could ever understand?
0:11:03 > 0:11:06The Amboseli National Park in Kenya,
0:11:06 > 0:11:11home to some of the most social animals on the planet -
0:11:11 > 0:11:12elephants.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Not only are elephants extremely intelligent,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23they're also highly vocal, using over a dozen different
0:11:23 > 0:11:26types of call in their intricate social lives.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32One Saturday afternoon, my parents took me to see
0:11:32 > 0:11:34a film called Dr Doolittle.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37It was about a man who actually spoke to the animals.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39As a kid, it was my dream come true
0:11:39 > 0:11:43and I'm not the only one that's obsessed about this.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46There've been plenty of scientists studying animal communication that
0:11:46 > 0:11:51have really wanted to unravel just how animals speak to each other,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55in fact, to be able to converse with them too.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00So, will it ever happen?
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Karen McCoomb is professor of animal behaviour
0:12:11 > 0:12:15from the University of Sussex.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19The elephants here are the most studied anywhere in the world.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23The thing about this park that's outstanding
0:12:23 > 0:12:26is the visibility of the elephants,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31a population of more than 1,000 elephants which we know individually.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Karen studies a specific part of elephant language -
0:12:37 > 0:12:40their contact calls.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42These allow elephants to keep in touch with one another
0:12:42 > 0:12:47over long distances, even when they're out of sight.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53We're going to use this gargantuan speaker which pumps out
0:12:53 > 0:12:58sound at more than 100 decibels, which is clearly very loud,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00to test these animals that are behind us.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Karen wants to find out if elephants can recognise each other
0:13:06 > 0:13:09solely by the sound of their contact call.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13RECORDING OF ELEPHANT RUMBLING PLAYS
0:13:13 > 0:13:16She's made a library of these calls.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Some of the recordings are of elephants familiar to the group
0:13:20 > 0:13:23but some are of strangers.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29So, Karen, exactly which call are we going to play to these animals?
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Here we're playing a call of a genuine stranger
0:13:32 > 0:13:36so an individual that they won't have encountered.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- So, they've never heard this call before?- No, not in this case.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43And we're expecting them therefore to respond
0:13:43 > 0:13:49- with a mixture of curiosity and alarm, I take it?- Yep. For sure.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53The reaction of the herd to the call can be very subtle...
0:13:54 > 0:13:58..and Karen thinks our best chance is to observe the matriarch,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01the female leader of the herd.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Right, you give me the shout and I'll hit the play button, then.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07- It's all set up, isn't it? - Yup.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09So, go.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15RECORDING OF ELEPHANT RUMBLING PLAYS
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Listening.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24What do you think?
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Well, the matriarch is listening,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32you can see she's holding her ears out a little bit from the head.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33She turned around, didn't she?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36She definitely stopped what she was doing and turned round
0:14:36 > 0:14:39- so she heard it, there's no question about that.- Yep.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Those on the left-hand side are walking away, aren't they?
0:14:42 > 0:14:45There is a bit of defensiveness here,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48there was bunching up within the group.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The reaction to a stranger's call is even stronger with this
0:14:55 > 0:14:59larger herd that Karen's also filmed in Amboseli.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02RECORDING OF ELEPHANT RUMBLING PLAYS
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Again, they bunch up defensively, something they wouldn't do
0:15:09 > 0:15:14if they'd heard a call made by an elephant that they knew well.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Karen has discovered that the matriarchs are the best ones
0:15:18 > 0:15:22when it comes to identifying the calls of different elephants.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27This allows them to quickly distinguish between friend and foe.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33In order to pass these sorts of discrimination tasks that
0:15:33 > 0:15:37we're giving them, they would need to be familiar with at least
0:15:37 > 0:15:41100 other adult females in the population.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44I imagine myself standing in a stadium
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and there's 1,000 people in the stadium and scattered amongst them
0:15:47 > 0:15:51are 100 people that I know and they all have to shout out "Chris!"
0:15:51 > 0:15:55I wouldn't recognise the voices of 100 people in a stadium of 1,000.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58No, I agree, it's not a trivial task
0:15:58 > 0:16:03and the very fact that it's only the families with the older matriarchs
0:16:03 > 0:16:08that consistently get it right points to it being a complex task
0:16:08 > 0:16:12that you've got to build up a memory during your lifetime
0:16:12 > 0:16:16in order to really be sure about getting it right.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Karen's work has confirmed that contact calls play a key role
0:16:24 > 0:16:27in elephants' social lives.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32And the discovery that elephants can recognise each other
0:16:32 > 0:16:37and communicate in this way reveals the complexity of their mind.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43You see, what the elephants are doing
0:16:43 > 0:16:47is something far more sophisticated than what many species of animals
0:16:47 > 0:16:51do when it comes to using their voice.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Birds respond when the sun comes up, it gets them singing,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57sometimes they can recognise their immediate neighbours,
0:16:57 > 0:17:03but not 100 other individuals, that is profoundly different.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12However impressive elephant communication is,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14scientists have long suspected
0:17:14 > 0:17:17that dolphin language must be even more so.
0:17:19 > 0:17:25And if only they listened closely enough, they'd be able to crack it.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Dolphin research really didn't begin in earnest until the 1960s
0:17:40 > 0:17:44when one of the most extreme experiments took place.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I think it has to be a contender to be one of the most bizarre
0:17:47 > 0:17:50ever in the history of animal behaviour.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Meet California neuroscientist John Lilly -
0:17:58 > 0:18:03self-styled science guru of the 1960s.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07He believed he could teach dolphins to speak English.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12"And I just want to talk to such ancient characters
0:18:12 > 0:18:15"and find out, you know, if they have any wisdom for us."
0:18:20 > 0:18:23He thought the best way to do this was to have a person
0:18:23 > 0:18:26share their life with a dolphin.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36So, Lilly flooded the ground floor of this house
0:18:36 > 0:18:42with 40cm of sea water for a male dolphin called Peter.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47He then persuaded 22-year-old Margaret Howe to live with
0:18:47 > 0:18:51the dolphin full-time for two and a half months.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Of course, no-one knew what was going to happen.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Margaret lived, ate and slept here.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05This photograph shows her on the phone whilst Peter is listening in.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09But much time was spent teaching Peter English.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12In fact, two and a half hours a day.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19This is a sound recording of Peter attempting to repeat numbers
0:19:19 > 0:19:21spoken by Margaret.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26RECORDING: One, two, three, four, five.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28- PETER:- Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32One, two, three, four, five, six.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Ahh, ahh, ahh...
0:19:34 > 0:19:36PETER WAILS
0:19:39 > 0:19:45It was slow progress and keeping Peter focused was really tricky.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48From early on in the experiment,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52he started to make sexual advances towards his human companion.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Highly aroused, he would rub against her legs.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Margaret had to "calm him down"
0:20:02 > 0:20:05before he could proceed with the lessons.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Controversial enough, but in another test,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17Lilly injected dolphins with the hallucinogenic drug LSD
0:20:17 > 0:20:19to see if it helped with their learning.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22This was the 1960s, you remember?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It's safe to say that the dolphin-house-experiment,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29to teach Peter to speak English,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33was neither ethical nor a success.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The pioneering work that John Lilly did certainly helped inspire
0:20:41 > 0:20:45both researchers and the public with a fascination for dolphins
0:20:45 > 0:20:48and crucially, it taught those researchers that any ideas
0:20:48 > 0:20:52of teaching dolphins human language was complete fantasy.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00That's why today, scientists like Vincent Janik, here in Florida,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04prefer to study dolphins in the wild.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09He's researching the sounds that dolphins make to communicate.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13And he's using a pioneering method of recording them.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19We're going out today to try to find wild dolphins and attach tags to them
0:21:19 > 0:21:22which are little recording tags that can give us information
0:21:22 > 0:21:25about their sounds that they're making and also give us information
0:21:25 > 0:21:29about their behaviour as they're in the bay, their own wild environment.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48A dolphin's been captured in shallow water
0:21:48 > 0:21:54and the team works rapidly to minimise any distress to the animal.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Until now, it's been almost impossible to gather useful
0:21:57 > 0:22:00sound recordings of wild dolphins
0:22:00 > 0:22:03for the simple reason that when they're in a group,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07you can't tell which one is making which sound.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Vincent's neat solution is to attach a recording device -
0:22:13 > 0:22:16it has suckers - to the animal's head.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Nicholas, Nicholas, get signal?
0:22:20 > 0:22:22'Roger that.' OK.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25It will now record all the sounds
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and calls made by this individual dolphin
0:22:28 > 0:22:31whilst also keeping a record of its movements.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36In addition, the device transmits a signal so the team can track
0:22:36 > 0:22:41the animal and recover the unique data at the end.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Five, four, three, two, one.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48The dolphin's released.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00This is all part of a bigger programme -
0:23:00 > 0:23:03several dolphins are tagged.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08At the same time, the scientists are constantly observing them
0:23:08 > 0:23:11so later, they can match their behaviour
0:23:11 > 0:23:14to the sounds they're making.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23The device here measures the distance between the dolphins.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28What's going on over there?
0:23:29 > 0:23:32There's lots of splashing, I think that's a dorsal fin.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33Yeah, they're two dolphins.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40There's a variety of data that we're collecting here from the boat.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42What we can look at is what the animal's doing,
0:23:42 > 0:23:44whether it's travelling, whether it's foraging,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46whether it's socialising with others,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49those, those kinds of things we can observe from the surface.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57They've now been tracking the dolphins for six hours.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00The recorder then automatically detaches itself
0:24:00 > 0:24:04from the animal captured earlier and the team retrieve it.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Back at base, the sounds can then be analysed.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15RECORDING OF DOLPHIN WHISTLING PLAYS
0:24:15 > 0:24:18At first listen, it's an absolute cacophony -
0:24:18 > 0:24:23a whole range of dolphin clicks, whistles and pulses.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Half of these sounds are not relevant to the study,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32they're used by dolphins to find their way around -
0:24:32 > 0:24:34the echolocation clicks.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36RECORDING OF DOLPHIN CLICKING PLAYS
0:24:36 > 0:24:39But Vincent's interested in these other ones,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41the communication calls,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43and one of them in particular.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47DOLPHIN WHISTLES THREE TIMES
0:24:47 > 0:24:50There's one very fascinating sound which is the signature whistle
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and the signature whistle is a call that, in a way,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58labels the identity of an animal, it's, it's broadcasting who you are,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01so here's an example of a signature whistle from just one animal.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04DOLPHIN WHISTLES THREE TIMES
0:25:08 > 0:25:15Every whistle is unique to each dolphin, just like a name.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19And these are the only mammals apart from humans to have this
0:25:19 > 0:25:21type of personalised call.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25And yet the whistle is not fixed.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28If male dolphins change their alliances,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31they can alter their signature whistle.
0:25:33 > 0:25:34The sounds that they do produce,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38they can always bring in new modifications, new improvisations
0:25:38 > 0:25:41if you want and so therefore, they're always able to somehow
0:25:41 > 0:25:43change the sounds that they already have.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46So the range of sounds they're making and the repertoire is
0:25:46 > 0:25:49very, very large, and also very adaptable to new situations.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Vincent now believes we might be mistaken to think of this
0:25:55 > 0:25:58as a human type of language at all.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02We see language really as the human communication system,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and it's very specific to what we, what our needs are.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09There's other very complex communication systems out there.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11One other example is music.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15We can use music to communicate about feelings for example,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17and actually one can use music
0:26:17 > 0:26:20to encode very specific messages as well.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23MUSIC: "Jaws Theme" by John Williams
0:26:23 > 0:26:26We all know what these sinister notes mean.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29MUSIC CONTINUES
0:26:30 > 0:26:33And we also know what this is telling us.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36MUSIC: "Bridal Chorus" by Wagner
0:26:36 > 0:26:41But critically, we don't need language to understand them.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48And Vincent believes the calls of dolphins could be a completely
0:26:48 > 0:26:50different type of communication,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54as different from language as music is.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58How dolphins communicate may be yet a third way of complex communication
0:26:58 > 0:27:02that is again different from music and from language.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06And it's very important in the study of this, to keep an open mind
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and be broad because if we were to look for language, we would
0:27:09 > 0:27:13actually already, in a way, blinker ourselves to other possibilities.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19In truth, I reckon it might be many years, if ever,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22before scientists can fully crack the dolphin code.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27But what's clear is that dolphins have developed a unique ability
0:27:27 > 0:27:30to communicate with each other.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33So how did they get this ability?
0:27:37 > 0:27:38To find out the answer,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42I've come here to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC
0:27:42 > 0:27:45to meet one of the world's leading experts on dolphin evolution.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Lori Marino came to this subject
0:27:53 > 0:27:55through her research as a neuroscientist
0:27:55 > 0:27:57measuring the brains of dolphins.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Modern dolphins have especially large brains
0:28:05 > 0:28:09and she and her colleague wanted to discover how this came about.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14Lori and Mark Uhen are the first scientists to study the fossil
0:28:14 > 0:28:18skulls of ancient dolphin ancestors using CAT scanners.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23So what have we got here then?
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Well, this animal lived about 36 million years ago.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30And we're going to stick it in the scan, what do we hope to find?
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Well, the scanner will let us see inside the skull
0:28:33 > 0:28:35and we'll be able to see all the spaces in here
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and the one we're really interested in is the brain case back here,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41so we'll be able to see how large the brain case was
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and actually calculate the volume of the brain of this ancient animal.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49And that's the part that changed over time in evolution
0:28:49 > 0:28:53and it looks very different than what you'd see in a modern specimen.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04This is a recreation of basilosauraus,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08an ancestor of modern dolphins from 36 million years ago.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11It was a solitary hunter.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Ferocious enough to take on sharks.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23But it's the brain size of these massive predators
0:29:23 > 0:29:25that Lori is interested in.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35And the results from the scan are very surprising.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40If we scroll though from the front towards the back,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44we can see the size of the brain and the shape of the brain,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47and we can see that, you know, the brain does get bigger
0:29:47 > 0:29:51as we move towards the back but it's still a relatively
0:29:51 > 0:29:54small cranial capacity for the size of the animal.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59This animal had a very big body and a very small brain.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06But when Lori studied the skulls of more recent ancestors,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09she noticed something extraordinary.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16Two million years later, drastic changes took place.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21This is another dolphin ancestor, dori-don.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Taking into account its far smaller body size, the brain
0:30:25 > 0:30:30of dori-don was almost twice as big as that of basilosaurus.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36Around the same time, it's thought that these ancient sea mammals
0:30:36 > 0:30:41stopped living alone and began instead to live in groups.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47Relative brain size shot up, and along with that are signs
0:30:47 > 0:30:50that their social ecology changed as well.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54So they became social but when they did so, their brain size increased.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56- Is that the theory?- That's right.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Smaller dolphin ancestors like dori-don were forced to group
0:31:03 > 0:31:05together for defence.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08When you reduce your body size
0:31:08 > 0:31:12and your dentition becomes less formidable,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15you need to band together to protect yourself.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19OK, so the development of social behaviour in this species was
0:31:18 > 0:31:20- driving evolution.- That's right.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25The driver of the large relative brain size was social complexity.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31And what a driver it was.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Remarkably, for over 30 million years,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37until early humans came on the scene,
0:31:37 > 0:31:43these dolphin ancestors had the most powerful brains on the planet.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Lori's work here at the Smithsonian strongly suggests that
0:31:50 > 0:31:55there's a link between social living and having a larger brain.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00It's a theory at least that needing to understand, to relate to
0:32:00 > 0:32:03other individuals in that social group is actually driving
0:32:03 > 0:32:08the evolution of a more powerful, more complex brain.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12But is that an inevitable consequence of living in a group?
0:32:12 > 0:32:13Well, there's a question...
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Let's take a group of animals with one of the most extraordinary
0:32:41 > 0:32:43social lives anywhere in the animal kingdom -
0:32:43 > 0:32:45the termites.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48They build these wonderful mounds here
0:32:48 > 0:32:51to hold their complex societies.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58And to discover just how complex, you have to peer inside.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02What I'm hoping to find, of course, is some termites
0:33:02 > 0:33:06and they occur in a number of different castes.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09The most populous are the workers.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14Look at that, there's a whole number of these animals here.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20They're tiny, white animals about a millimetre or two long.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And then there are the soldiers.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24Yeah, there's a soldier.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29You can see their much larger heads and powerful jaws.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33And in a nest like this, we'd expect there to be several queens.
0:33:33 > 0:33:39And here's a figure for you - these queens can live for up to 45 years.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Most remarkable of all is what the society can build.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Take the architecture of the mound.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59The workers create vents that draw in fresh air.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03They build ducting so that warm air
0:34:03 > 0:34:09and waste carbon dioxide can rise up and be pumped out at the top.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12A very impressive air-conditioning system.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20It's incredible what such small animals can design and construct
0:34:20 > 0:34:22and especially surprising given
0:34:22 > 0:34:26that each individual termite has a tiny brain.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29They lack flexible thinking
0:34:29 > 0:34:33and they have to carry out their tasks by rote.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39But what they lack in brain power, they make up for in numbers
0:34:39 > 0:34:44because inside this mound, there could be several million termites.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Each of those individuals goes about its simple duties
0:34:47 > 0:34:51but when you add them all together, when you collectivise them,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53we get what we call group intelligence
0:34:53 > 0:34:57and, quite clearly, it works, it works very, very well.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04But within a pod of dolphins, something else is going on.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08You see, each dolphin is clever
0:35:08 > 0:35:11and they have a sophisticated understanding
0:35:11 > 0:35:15of what the other individuals in the group are doing.
0:35:15 > 0:35:21What is it then about the dolphin mind that allows them to do this?
0:35:26 > 0:35:28To try and answer this question,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31I've come to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Keeping dolphins in captivity is controversial,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41and since 1988, aquariums in the United States don't take
0:35:41 > 0:35:46any dolphins from the wild, except for the occasional stranding.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51So, any new dolphins are captive-born.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59The head trainer, Alison Ginsburg, is introducing me to Nonnie.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Each of the animals may know up to 65, 70 different hand gestures that
0:36:05 > 0:36:08correlate to different behaviours that we would like them to perform.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11- So you offer them the gesture and they produce the behaviour?- Correct.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15So take your fingers like this and you're just going to wiggle them.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18DOLPHIN YELLS
0:36:18 > 0:36:19Nice.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Now you're just going to take a fist and you're going to throw it out.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28DOLPHIN CROAKS
0:36:28 > 0:36:29We'll do one more.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33- Take your hands like this and you're going to wave them at her.- OK.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37What about that?
0:36:37 > 0:36:40- And she knows up to 70 gestures? - Mm-hm.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44- Amazing. Amazing.- Absolutely.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Animal psychologist Diana Reiss believes it's
0:36:55 > 0:36:59only in the controlled environment of aquariums that you can
0:36:59 > 0:37:02unlock some of the secrets of the dolphin mind.
0:37:07 > 0:37:12I often wonder when they see this, if they know the mirror is going up.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Here, she can carry out experiments
0:37:14 > 0:37:17that simply wouldn't be possible in the wild.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27This is the observation chamber here at the aquarium.
0:37:27 > 0:37:33It's cramped but you can get some fantastic views of what's going on.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39Now, he's going down to the bottom,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41the other one turns around and comes right back.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45- It's a beautiful bubble ring.- Wow.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52These dolphins have learnt to make their own bubble rings.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54It's a clever-enough trick,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59but Diana wants to investigate something far more fundamental.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03Do dolphins recognise themselves as individuals?
0:38:04 > 0:38:09It was long assumed that only the human mind was capable of this
0:38:09 > 0:38:14but now we know a tiny handful of other animals can do it too.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Diana places a one-way mirror inside the observation window to
0:38:20 > 0:38:22test the dolphins.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31So now we're looking through a window and they'll be seeing the mirror.
0:38:31 > 0:38:32They're not looking at us,
0:38:32 > 0:38:34that's the key thing, they're looking at themselves.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36They're looking at themselves.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38(Wow! Look at that!)
0:38:40 > 0:38:43- (Look at him twisting his body to look at himself.)- (Yeah.)
0:38:45 > 0:38:49(He's loving himself, that's one vain dolphin you've got there.)
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Dolphins don't behave like this if they simply meet another dolphin.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04This suggests that they understand that what they're seeing
0:39:04 > 0:39:09isn't another animal, but a reflection of themselves.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16One action never normally seen if they meet another is fin wiggling.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21(You see that weird pectoral fin movement. Look at this.)
0:39:21 > 0:39:23(This is not normal for a dolphin.)
0:39:27 > 0:39:29(Now that is very weird.)
0:39:29 > 0:39:31(That is amazing.)
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Is it true that dolphins have been fascinated by watching themselves in
0:39:39 > 0:39:40the mirror whilst they're copulating?
0:39:40 > 0:39:42I've seen that and we've recorded that,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45that was the first study that we did.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54This remarkable footage of dolphins having sex was also filmed
0:39:54 > 0:39:56through a one-way mirror.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05They came to the mirror, and they looked head-on into the mirror
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and would copulate while they both looked into the mirror and watched.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12This is something they can't see without a mirror
0:40:12 > 0:40:14so this is very sophisticated.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17This is understanding it's you
0:40:17 > 0:40:21and understanding this mirror is a tool to view yourself.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25All this supports the idea
0:40:25 > 0:40:29that dolphins must be aware that they're looking at themselves.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41Dolphins share this ability to recognise themselves as individuals
0:40:41 > 0:40:43with very few other animals.
0:40:45 > 0:40:46Elephants can do it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Chimpanzees can do it.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56But the vast majority, including dogs and monkeys, simply can't.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01And, interestingly, nor can young humans.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08Before they're 18 months old, most children fail to point out
0:41:08 > 0:41:10a red dot painted on their cheek.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15This boy simply assumes that he's looking at another child.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Only when they're about two, do children first realise
0:41:22 > 0:41:25that the mark is on their own cheek.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29They now know the reflection is of themselves.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38Diana has explored the age at which dolphins first pass the mirror test.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43And what's truly remarkable is that, just like human toddlers,
0:41:43 > 0:41:49dolphins don't learn to recognise themselves until they're two-years-old!
0:41:53 > 0:41:57I've just had an extraordinary hour in a damp pit in a dolphinarium
0:41:57 > 0:42:01and these moments are the real highlights of my life,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03I can't tell you how excited I am at the moment.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07I've just witnessed dolphin behaviour that I've not seen before
0:42:07 > 0:42:10that was being interpreted by a scientist that had analysed it,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12had quantified it and qualified it
0:42:12 > 0:42:17and it's changed my life probably because I've seen these animals,
0:42:17 > 0:42:21without doubt recognising themselves as individuals.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25And I felt - maybe I'm getting old and soft...
0:42:26 > 0:42:28..maybe I'm not as pragmatic as I used to be,
0:42:28 > 0:42:33but I felt a connection with them based upon that self-awareness.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43Social animals haven't evolved an ability to recognise themselves,
0:42:43 > 0:42:44merely to preen in mirrors.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Understanding yourself as an individual
0:42:51 > 0:42:54means you know others are individuals too.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58To find out why this is so important,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02I'm on my way to the Yerkes Primate Centre, near Atlanta.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09When an animal like a chimpanzee
0:43:09 > 0:43:11is aware that another in their group
0:43:11 > 0:43:14might have a different perspective on the world,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16it gives them an advantage.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24It allows the chimp to lie and manipulate others.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Primatologist Frans de Waal coined the phrase "chimpanzee politics".
0:43:36 > 0:43:39He and his team have set up an ingenious experiment to reveal
0:43:39 > 0:43:45how a low-ranking animal can deceive a more dominant member of the group.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51What we do here, is we hide food.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54One individual knows where food is hidden,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56the other one doesn't know where the food if hidden
0:43:56 > 0:43:58and then we see how they manipulate the relationship
0:43:58 > 0:44:01- in order to get the food. - So how do you do that?
0:44:01 > 0:44:04You show an animal food and hide it in the enclosure, I take it?
0:44:04 > 0:44:06We show a low-ranking female where food is hidden,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09then we release her together with the high-ranking female
0:44:09 > 0:44:13who doesn't know anything and then the low-ranking one,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18she can wait till the other one is gone, or distracted,
0:44:18 > 0:44:22she can also mislead the other one and lead her in the wrong direction
0:44:22 > 0:44:24in order to get to the food in time.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28We are testing Missy and Rita.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Rita, the dominant chimp, comes out first.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38If she knew where the banana was she would simply help herself.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43But only Missy, the subordinate chimp,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46saw the banana being hidden under the red tube.
0:44:46 > 0:44:52Missy is also aware that Rita has no idea where the banana is.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56In other words she realises
0:44:56 > 0:45:01that Rita has a different perspective on the same situation.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Missy notices Rita close to the food
0:45:06 > 0:45:08and so tries to appear nonchalant.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Rita now wanders off.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15And when she's far enough away,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Missy goes for the banana.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24She has successfully deceived Rita.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26She's found her banana.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Frans has observed this behaviour in chimps,
0:45:29 > 0:45:31but it's very rare in other animals.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35That kind of deception is not so typical.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37I think probably dolphins are capable of it,
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and maybe elephants.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42But you need a large brain, I think, to do this kind of thing.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48Pre-meditated deception reveals much about the minds of animals.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52They must be able to plan.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And they have to anticipate that their own actions
0:45:56 > 0:45:58will influence events.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04It's all high-level stuff.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10And I've always been convinced that the most successful animals
0:46:10 > 0:46:12are natural-born-liars.
0:46:15 > 0:46:16And the best liars of all?
0:46:18 > 0:46:21There's no contest I'm afraid, that's you and me, that's us humans.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24And just think about it, be honest with yourselves,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28think of all the lies that you tell to your social group
0:46:28 > 0:46:32every single day to manipulate and control.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35Well, not only to manipulate and control
0:46:35 > 0:46:38but also to smooth over those relationships
0:46:38 > 0:46:41to make sure that your social group is a functional one.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50But social living is not just about lies and deceit.
0:46:51 > 0:46:57Frans also wanted to test if animals had a sense of justice.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Would they realise if they were being treated fairly?
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Normally you would think the only thing an animal should care about
0:47:05 > 0:47:08is what do I get for my task - I work I get rewards -
0:47:08 > 0:47:11but, no, they're comparing with what the other one is getting.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Frans began the fairness test with the capuchin monkey.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23These small, clever animals are kept in large enclosures,
0:47:23 > 0:47:27but, for the short duration of the test, they're brought into a lab.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Each monkey carries out a simple task.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39And when both get a reward of cucumber, everyone's happy.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46But watch what happens when the one on the right receives a grape instead.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Grapes are so much better than cucumber,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and the one who gets cucumber gets really emotionally upset
0:47:59 > 0:48:01by the fact that the other one is getting grapes.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12In chimpanzees things go actually a little bit further,
0:48:12 > 0:48:14and gets very close to the human sense of fairness,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18in that the one who gets grapes also gets upset sometimes
0:48:18 > 0:48:21and the one who gets grapes sometimes waits till the other one
0:48:21 > 0:48:24gets a grape, so it gets very close to the human sense of fairness.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26So the one that's getting the better reward,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30refuses to take the reward until the other animal is being similarly
0:48:30 > 0:48:33- rewarded with the good stuff?- Yeah. Yeah, that's in chimpanzees,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36that has never been found in another animal,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39but the chimpanzee goes much further in that
0:48:39 > 0:48:43they care about reward division even if they're on the better end of the scale.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53The ability to forge a friendship...
0:48:54 > 0:48:57..to communicate with others in the group...
0:49:00 > 0:49:02..to have a sense of fairness...
0:49:04 > 0:49:07..to know yourself as an individual...
0:49:10 > 0:49:13..and, occasionally, to deceive and lie.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21These skills don't require strength
0:49:21 > 0:49:24so much as a prodigious amount of brain power.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32And the brainier you are, the more likely it is you'll succeed
0:49:32 > 0:49:37within that group and pass your intelligence on to your own offspring.
0:49:38 > 0:49:44This is why social living has driven the evolution of high intelligence.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51But it's not just cleverness that differentiates social animals.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Animals with minds like this
0:50:02 > 0:50:05often show behaviours which are very human.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09They seem to be able to put themselves in the shoes of another individual.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12And if they can do that, they are just a short step away
0:50:12 > 0:50:16from demonstrating something that we call empathy -
0:50:16 > 0:50:21and that's a trait that we always consider to be uniquely human.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25This is now a serious scientific question
0:50:25 > 0:50:30and researchers have been exploring whether there's any evidence of
0:50:30 > 0:50:34social animals displaying behaviours which are akin to empathy.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45It's what I want to witness back here at Amboseli.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52The elephants here display a rare behaviour
0:50:52 > 0:50:55that's nearly impossible to believe.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58It's as moving as it is extraordinary.
0:51:02 > 0:51:08But to capture it, Karen McComb and I are going to have to do something almost macabre.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14We put the skull down in between the two jaw bones.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18'We've created a miniature elephant graveyard
0:51:18 > 0:51:20'in the path of an approaching herd.'
0:51:26 > 0:51:28If you circle around...
0:51:28 > 0:51:31'Now all we do is observe.'
0:51:33 > 0:51:35That's good. OK, stop there a minute.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43It looks like they might be interested, Karen.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Yeah, I think we've definitely got the beginnings of a reaction here.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51The male is swinging his trunk towards the skulls and the jawbones.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Some of the younger females starting to respond as well.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59They've picked up a whiff of the skulls.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Is this a skull of an animal that they know?
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Coincidently there are bones...
0:52:04 > 0:52:08there's a jawbone there of a female who they would definitely,
0:52:08 > 0:52:12some of this family would definitely have come across in real life.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16- They're going towards it now, look.- Yeah, wow.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20'A few animals, including chimpanzees,
0:52:20 > 0:52:24'will be curious towards the corpse of a companion,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26'touching and investigating the body.'
0:52:28 > 0:52:32But only elephants take an interest in the skulls and bones
0:52:32 > 0:52:35of their own kind, long after death.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Now we're really starting to get a reaction.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44We've got the females clustering in around the skull
0:52:44 > 0:52:48and the touching the jawbones, all the trunks are coming in at once.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Stretching in all at the same time, yeah.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55You see the way the ends of the trunks are moist there?
0:52:55 > 0:52:59That's enhancing the scent that they're getting.
0:53:13 > 0:53:19It's a very intensely social thing this approaching the skulls.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22They're not just going up as single individuals,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24they're coming around as a group.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26The matriarch's right there in the core of the group
0:53:26 > 0:53:30and everyone is together, reaching in their trunks
0:53:30 > 0:53:33and really feeling these skulls.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39Just to qualify, you have tried this with inanimate objects
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and other skulls, I mean in the sense that they're not responding
0:53:42 > 0:53:44to any object that we put in their path,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47- and they're not responding to our scent either.- No, no way.
0:53:47 > 0:53:53They are specifically giving these responses to elephant skulls and ivory.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57They pick out the long dead remains of their own species
0:53:57 > 0:53:59and show this intense interest.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05You wouldn't see that in any other species, except for humans.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17It would be amazing to know what was going on in their heads when they do that.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19I mean we can only guess.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22Penny for your thoughts, penny? I'd offer millions!
0:54:27 > 0:54:33Reluctantly the young male turns away and goes off to follow the rest of the family.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56Watching that group of elephants was a moving experience.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02It's really difficult not to anthropomorphise here and see them as mourning
0:55:02 > 0:55:05because they arrange themselves in such a reverential way,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07in a way that we would around a dead relative.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15I suppose we may never know exactly what's going on in their mind
0:55:15 > 0:55:20but you can't help but speculate that they have a concept of death.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22And if they have a concept of death does that mean that they
0:55:22 > 0:55:26understand that that animal has died and gone?
0:55:26 > 0:55:30Does that mean that they understand that one day they will die too?
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Because that parallel would be, not only similar,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36but exactly the same as ours.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50If social animals can experience such a deep emotional connection
0:55:50 > 0:55:55with one another, how far could these feelings extend?
0:55:58 > 0:56:03Well, in early 2013 a remarkable incident was filmed off Hawaii
0:56:03 > 0:56:06that may provide some answers.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14A male dolphin had got fishing line and a hook caught on its body.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Without anything being done, he might well have died.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25But the dolphin swims in to a group of divers.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Now, think about it -
0:56:30 > 0:56:34this animal must know that he's in danger.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37Might he also realise that the humans,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41instead of harming him, could actually help him?
0:56:43 > 0:56:48In other words, could this dolphin be taking a calculated risk
0:56:48 > 0:56:52that these people will show pity for his plight?
0:56:55 > 0:56:58It's a very difficult question to answer.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02But the good news is that the dolphin survived -
0:57:02 > 0:57:05perhaps an extraordinary example
0:57:05 > 0:57:08of empathy crossing the species barrier.
0:57:15 > 0:57:21Personally, I think I'd always underestimated the complexity of the dolphin mind.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24We couldn't be more different than these animals.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27We've evolved to live on land, they in the sea.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33But the way that we both use our brains to deal with others,
0:57:33 > 0:57:35there are clear similarities.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41Maybe, mentally we're a lot closer to these animals than I initially thought.
0:57:48 > 0:57:53Over the course of this series I've had many memorable experiences.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59I've come close to feeling what it's really like to be a wolf.
0:58:01 > 0:58:05I've witnessed the incredible problem-solving skills of the crow family.
0:58:09 > 0:58:15Now, finally, exploring the world of the most social of animals has completed my journey.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22And by looking into other animals' minds, I've changed my own.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24And that has to be a good thing.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27And it's made me happy.