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Experiments are the key to understanding socially acquired knowledge in cetaceans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2001

Eduardo Mercado  and
Caroline M. DeLong
Eduardo Mercado
Affiliation:
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102 mercado@pavlov.rutgers.edu www.cmbn.rutgers.edu/~mercado/welcome.html
Caroline M. DeLong
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 delong@hawaii.edu
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Abstract

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We agree with Rendell and Whitehead that cetaceans acquire knowledge from caretakers and peers, and that a clear understanding of this process can provide insight into the evolution of mammalian cognition. The passive observational methods they advocate, however, are inadequate for determining what cetaceans know. Only by experimentally investigating the cognition of cetaceans can we hope to understand what they learn through social interactions.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , April 2001 , pp. 345
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press