6/5/2019 This Is How Dolphins 'See' Humans With Echolocation | Smart News | Smithsonian

DECEMBER 8, 2015 Follow @dannydoodar

This Is How Dolphins 'See' Humans With

Echolocation
|
Smart News
Scientists may nally be able to 'see' through the ears of a dolphin.

A group of researchers recorded and analyzed the echolocation sounds

used by a dolphin when it came face to face with a number of
objects (including a human male), reconstructing a series of 2-D and
3-D images that show how dolphins 'see' objects underwater.

"When a dolphin scans an object with its high-frequency sound beam,

each short click captures a still image, similar to a camera taking
photographs," Jack Kassewitz of the Speak Dolphin research
organization said in a statement.

But making these images much more di cult than printing a two-
dimensional photo. Dolphins use echolocation to create an impression
of the world around them. These pictures hold a wealth of three-

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dimensional information like depth, making it di cult to translate into

at images.

To make these shapshots, Kassewitz and his colleagues

used specialized audio equipment to capture the signals. The team then
used a device called a CymaScope to translate the clicks and squeaks
a female dolphin named Amaya made while she explored several
objects in her tank, Jennifer Viegas reports for Discovery News.

The objects Amaya investigated included a owerpot, cube and

the diver Jim McDonough. The CymaScope translated her sounds into
both a 2-D image and a 3-D-printed model. The
model demonstrates the almost-holographic information that
dolphins get from echolocation, Devin Coldewey writes for NBC News.

"Seeing the 3-D print of a human being left us all speechless,"

Kassewitz said in a statement. "For the rst time ever, we may be
holding in our hands a glimpse into what cetaceans see with sound."

The CymaScope captured "what-the-dolphin-saw images" of not only

objects' full silhouettes, but many more details than
expected, Kassewitz said in a statement. The researchers could just
make out the diver's weight belt in the fuzzy depictions.

There is still much to learn about the level of detail dolphins can
decipher. The scientists are also eager to investigate if and how
dolphins communicate with each other using this sono-pictorial
language.

“The dolphin has had around fty million years to evolve its
echolocation sense, whereas marine biologists have studied the
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physiology of cetaceans for only around ve decades, and I have

worked with John Stuart Reid for barely ve years,” Kassewitz said in a
statement.

UPDATE: After the release of these images, there has been some doubt
brewing in the scienti c community about how these images were
captured and processed and the idea of truly ‘seeing’ what a dolphin
would see. It is important to note that the methods are not published in
a peer-reviewed journal—the usual mechanism scientists use to vet
each other’s research—so the study should be viewed as preliminary
work. Even so, the idea of capturing the resolution at which a dolphin
can discern is an intriguing idea, and the important conversations
these captivating images started could hopefully inspire further
research into dolphin intelligence.<o:p></o:p>

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