Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, New College of Florida, UC Berkeley, and Oxford University have collaborated on research that significantly improves our understanding of how whales and dolphins use echolocation and the underlying mechanisms in their brains.

The research team employed advanced techniques to map the brains of deceased cetaceans, which allowed them to gain deeper insights into the auditory pathways these animals use. The study included a comparison between dolphins and a non-echolocating whale called a you are Whale.

Sophie Flem,a student in the inaugural class of New College of Florida’s Marine Mammal Master’s program and lead author,commented on the findings:

“Our research sought to understand how the pathways for auditory information differed between echolocating and non-echolocating whales. In humans, primates, rodents, and dogs, we have well established maps of what parts of the brain contribute to what kind of processing. We don’t yet have those in dolphin brains, which are strikingly unusual compared to terrestrial animal brains.”

Senior author Peter Cook, an associate professor of marine mammal science at New College of Florida, added:

“Comparative neurobiologists have longed to examine the patterns of connections within dolphin and whale brains for years, believing that the unique evolutionary history of these species will provide new insights into how brains evolve. The technology is finally there to start to crack open these mysterious nervous systems and find out how they tick.”

Cook further noted:

“it’s believed that neural control of vocal output has totally shifted in dolphins as they evolved their unique nasal vocal apparatus. We can now map out vocal control in dolphins, and how it differs from baleen whales. both groups of animals have the rare ability to learn new vocal behavior,and dolphin vocal systems are some of the strangest in the animal kingdom.Now that we can opportunistically and ethically look inside these animals’ brains, they’re just getting started teaching us.”

Peter Tyack, emeritus research scholar in biology at Whai and a co-author on the study, explained:

“While neuroscientists used to think of the cerebellum largely as a center for balance and motor (muscle/movement) control, newer evidence strongly suggests that it serves as an integration center for sensory and motor information, and, importantly, a rapid prediction center. dolphins use echolocation to interact with their world, and, unlike hearing and vision, they must produce the energy that then returns to their sensory receptors – echolocation is part hearing and part vocalization. Think about moving your hand to produce the touch sense feedback that lets you find the light switch, similarly, dolphins move around their echolocation beam to get the feedback they need to function in a dark, underwater surroundings.”

The complete study is available in PLOS One here.

Deeper Dive into Cetacean Communication

Understanding how whales and dolphins communicate and navigate through sound provides critical insights into their behavior and the health of marine ecosystems.

“it’s believed that neural control of vocal output has totally shifted in dolphins as they evolved their unique nasal vocal apparatus.”