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Allison Flores
Dr. Greg McClure
WR 39C
July 24, 2016
A Historical Review on Killer Whales Cognition
All animals have a huge part in our society. What does one think about them? Do they have
feelings or are they smart, do they have a conscious? As Steven Pinker a psychologist at
Harvard University and author of The Stuff of Thought says, It would be perverse to deny
consciousness to mammals (Kruger). In this literature review about killer whales cognition I will
be analyzing different scientific studies. I will specifically be reviewing examples of killer whales
behaviors like vocal learning, vocal communication, self-recognition and learning different
imitations. This type of research began in the late 1900s and I will begin this review from a study
that was done in 2000 and end with an article that I had been conducted recently in 2012. I will
begin talking about the vocal learning abilities of killer whales and two call types that are
specifically made by killer whales, which was determined by use of neural network based index.
This showed how the whales were able to learn the different mechanisms of call differentiation. I
will then talk about how killer whales showed self-recognition through the mirror-induced
contingency checking test. Later on in my review I will be speaking about how certain calls that
killer whales make have a certain meaning and depending on what situation they are in their
calls will change. In this review I will discuss animal cognition studies through examples of
behaviors, like vocal communication, that have been studied on killer whales to show how they
illustrate cognitive abilities. In the concluding section, I will return to identifying how killer whales
have abilities proving their cognition.
Donald R. Griffin and Gayle B. Speck authors of the Animal Cognition Review: New evidence of
animal consciousness show how most animals experience at least simple levels of
consciousness (Griffin and Speck 5). Natsoulas defines consciousness as, the state or facility

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of being mentally conscious or aware of anything (Griffin and Speck 6). They show how
animals are conscious by studying three different methods. Griffin and Speck begin by looking
for correlations of consciousness at the brain level. Then they look at challenges that animals
have not been genetically programmed to be prepared for. As Griffin and Speck write,
Suggestive evidence of animal consciousness because such versatility is most effectively
organized by conscious thinking (Griffin and Speck 6). Lastly, they look at animal
communication. For example, Griffin and Speck provide the example of how apes showed an
increased ability to use gestures or keyboard symbols to answer questions or to ask for things.
Griffin and Speck also show the example of how honey bees have shown gestural
communication that helps them to make important groups decisions like which cavity a swarm
should chose as their new home (Griffin and Speck 6). Griffin and Speck depict the different
methods that were used to show consciousness in animals through examples provided in their
article.
V.B. Deecke, a doctor in Evolutionary Biology, University St. Andrews, and a member of the
Marine Mammal Research Unit studies the conservation of marine mammals from an animal
behavior background. Deecke is most interested in all aspects of sound production and
perception in animals. Researcher P. Spong is a member of the Orca Lab. John K.B. Ford, a
research scientist, and member of The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and head of
the Cetacean Research program studies the conservation status of marine mammals and turtles
off the specific coast. All three of these scientist are authors of the article: Dialect change in
resident killer whales: implications for vocal learning and cultural transmission which was
published in the journal Animal Behaviour. In their review published in 2000, they describe how
killer whales are able to learn by vocal dialects and how vocal dialects are not all the same
depending on the call types. The article writes about how killer whales produce many types of
vocalizations like echolocations clicks, tonal whistle, and pulsed calls. The way that the authors
show how killer whales learn vocal calls is by studying three different criterias. The first criteria

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was to find the rate of structural change. For example, the authors state, If the structure of call
types changes with time, a sufficient measurement of auditory similarity comparing samples of
calls from the same group should give lower ratings of similarity the further the samples are
apart (Deecke, Ford, and Spong 630). The second objective was to test for the divergence of
call structure in two groups. The third objective was to determine which structural factors are
needed for neural network discrimination (Deecke, Ford, and Spong 630). Once these
parameters were determining the authors write, if calls are learned and structural modifications
of the call types are transferred between the groups, structural parameters should show parallel
trends in the calls of the two groups (Deecke, Ford, and Spong 631). The way all these
objectives were carried out was by using hydrophones to listen to underwater recordings. Two
specific call types were analyzed N4 and N9 calls. From the two types of calls that were
received it was determined that killer whale vocal dialects change depending on the structure of
the call, showing that the rate of structural modification is not the same for all call types. Janik
and Slater write, The vocal behavior of animals can change because of genetic difference
maturation effects of vocal learning (Deecke, Ford, and Spong 634 ). In this review it shows
how killer whales dialects that they have learned change depending on the certain call types.
A study of killer whales behavior in front of a mirror showed how they have cognitive abilities
that are needed for self-recognition. This research was down in 2001 in the article called Mirror
image processing in three marine mammal species: killer whales, false killer whales, and
California sea lions written by scientist F.Delfour and K. Marten. Through the mirror selfrecognition model it test the existence of a cognitive ability to see if animals or individuals
understand mirrored information. As Anderson writes, To recognize its own mirror image an in
individual may need a representation of itself; it may be aware of its own existence and process
the ability to monitor its own mental states: it may experience perceptual and reflective
consciousness (Delfour and Marten 1). Five killer whales were tested, three females and two
males however one of the whales dorsal fins was injured on the males so the whale dropped

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out of the study. The way this was conducted was three times a day data was collected using a
JCV Compact-VHSGR, -AX48S video camcorder These equipments were by one of the eight
windows that was surrounding the main tank and one of the window was made into a one-way
mirror which the camcorder was placed. A mark test was done on the male whales before they
were exposed to the mirror whereas the females were exposed to the mirror before they got the
mark test. A mark test is when the whole rostrum of the killer whales was rubbed on with
antiseptic ointments (Delfour and Marten 3). What the results showed as in figure one is that
when the whales were showed the mirror (window with the mirror) or the window (which is the
same window just without the mirror) they spent more time when they saw the mirror where as if
they didnt see the mirror in the tank. Also, when the whales saw the mirror some would move
their head, open their mouth, show their tongue and play with the fish. As the authors write, The
killer whale responded to the mirror by displaying contingency checking behaviors (Delfour and
Marten 4). In this review it shows how killer whales are able to recognize itself in front of a
mirror showing self-consciousness.
Like in the article from Deecke and Ford there is another article by these two scientist as well as
scientist Peter J.B. Slater who conducts research at the School of Biology at the University of
St. Andrews, U.K. This article which was published in 2005 the journal Animal Bahviour shows
how killer whales communicate vocally with their specific calls and how these calls could come
at a cost sometimes. This article focuses on two types of killer whales transient and resident.
Resident killer whales feed on fish and do not have good hearing abilities while transient killer
whales hunt marine mammals which have good hearing abilities (Deecke, Ford and Slater 2).
As stated previously in this review by Deeck, Ford and Spong this article says the types of
vocalizations that both killer whales have are echolocation clicks, whistles and pulsed calls. As
figure two shows a picture of the three types of vocalizations. Clicks are used for orientation and
prey detection. Whistles are used in social context and short way of communication. Pulsed
calls are the most common among killer whales and it is used as way for group recognition and

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coordinating behavior. It was
determined that based on the type of
situation that the killer whales are in
their sounds change in order to avoid
other mammals from affecting them.
In the article it says, killer whales
produced pulsed calls in order to
determine how differential costs
resulting from eavesdropping prey have
shaped their vocal communication
(Deecke, Ford and Slater 1). To test how the calls, change an offshore acoustic hydrophone was
used. What the researches determined was that the killer whales are silent during all behavior
except for after a kill. An example of the killer whales behavior that was monitored was called
surface-active which is when whales come into physical contact with other killer whales at a
speed of 3 km/h. However, in this review the authors suggest that the killer whales in some
situations should use a different calls to avoid other mammals from interfering and possible
hurting them. This review showed how vocal communication changes depending on an animals
behavior. Specifically their communication is low when they are searching for prey and it is high
once an attack occurs and when they are socializing with other animals.
One more way that killer whales show that they have cognition is through their behavior of
imitative learning. In the article published in 2012: Experimental evidence for action imitation in
killer whales published in the journal Animal Cognition this review shows three ways in which
killer whales showed imitation. The article states, We used a do-as-other-does paradigm in
which 3 subjects witnessed a conspecific demonstrators performance that included 15 familiars
and 4 novel behaviors (Abramson, Hernandez-Lloreda,Call and Colmenares 1). For the
whales to be tested, one trainer was needed to indicated to the demonstrator and and other

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trainer was needed to give the commands to the killer whales. The three phases that the killer
whales were tested on was copying the command while responding to the gesture based
command copy (Do that). Phase 2 involved testing the subjects response to the trainers
copy command when the demonstrator performed familiar behaviors, that is, behaviors that the
subjects had already seen others perform and had performed themselves (Abramson,
Hernandez-Lloreda,Call and Colmenares 2). Phase 3 the killer whales were tested with novel
behaviors which are behaviors that the killer whales had never been exposed too. When the
killer whales performed a correct response they were given fish and voice reinforcement
signals. What was shown from the killer whales was since the very beginning is that they copied
the demonstrators gestures. Before the 8 trial all three subjects copied 100% of the
th

demonstrators behavior. The results also show that the killer whales coped 100% of the
untrained behaviors. Overall this review provided evidence that killer whales are capable of
performing actions of imitations showing that they are able to learn something that was only
known for other primates to do.
In conclusion, killer whales show in their behavior that they cognitive abilities. As author
Simmonds writes, most intelligent animals (Simmonds 1). Through these four articles that I
presented in this review I have shown different killer whale behaviors that reflects their capability
of cognition. One behavior is their excellent vocal communication, second their ability of learning
to imitate other gestures and lastly the skill of understanding self-perception. More recognition
needs to be given to killer whales that they do show cognition.