---
title: "Diana Reiss discusses research into dolphin communication"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/diana-reiss-discusses-research-into-dolphin-communication-4215"
updated: "2026-10-17T16:13:49.380Z"
description: "Diana Reiss describes research into dolphin communication, including experiments in which dolphins responded to human-directed sounds and signals. The work explores whether dolphins can learn symbolic communication, but does not establish any connection to UFOs, UAPs, or paranormal phenomena."
sources: ["https://youtu.be/W6ZffgqeQGU?si=qEtO9b0MCnN7NwDI"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Diana Reiss discusses research into dolphin communication

Published: 2026-10-16  
Source: [r/InterdimensionalNHI](https://youtu.be/W6ZffgqeQGU?si=qEtO9b0MCnN7NwDI)

### Overview

Diana Reiss, a professor of cognitive psychology at Hunter College, City University of New York, is challenging long-standing assumptions about animal intelligence. In her presentation, “Other Minds,” Reiss describes decades of research involving dolphins, elephants, whales, fish and octopuses. She argues that curiosity, play, exploration and problem-solving—traits often associated with human intelligence—are widespread across the animal kingdom.

Reiss says researchers must combine advanced technology with greater scientific imagination to understand how other species perceive and interact with the world. Her work emphasizes that experimental design can strongly influence results, particularly when tests fail to account for an animal’s anatomy, sensory priorities or preferred ways of solving problems.

### Evidence of Problem-Solving

One example comes from research at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo involving a seven-year-old male elephant. Earlier experiments had suggested that elephants lacked the ability to solve certain problems because they did not use sticks to reach food. Reiss’s team introduced a movable cube instead. The elephant quickly pushed the cube into position and climbed onto it to reach fruit hanging overhead.

Reiss believes the earlier tests may have underestimated elephant abilities. An elephant’s trunk is central to its sense of smell and touch, and holding a stick may interfere with that sensory contact. A platform, by contrast, allowed the animal to maintain contact with its environment while solving the problem. The finding illustrates Reiss’s broader argument that researchers must design studies around the natural abilities of the species being tested.

### Dolphin Communication and Choice

Much of Reiss’s career has focused on bottlenose dolphins, whose large brains and sophisticated social behavior have made them a major subject of cognitive research. In the mid-1980s, she developed an underwater keyboard system for dolphins named Delphi and Pan. The animals learned to associate computer-generated whistles with objects such as balls and rings, allowing them to request particular toys.

According to Reiss, the dolphins not only responded to the signals but also began imitating them with considerable accuracy. They later combined signals in new ways to indicate different play scenarios, a behavior Reiss describes as **“combinatorial signaling.”** The experiments suggest that dolphins can learn symbolic associations and use vocal patterns flexibly, although they do not by themselves establish a human-like language or prove that dolphins share human concepts.

Researchers are continuing to investigate dolphin vocal behavior using tools such as Hydromoth, an underwater recording array being used in Roatán, Honduras. The system is designed to help isolate and identify the calls of individual dolphins within a group.

### Self-Recognition Across Species

Reiss also discusses mirror self-recognition, a behavioral test often associated with self-awareness. Her research has contributed to evidence that the ability extends beyond humans and great apes. Bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants, beluga whales, magpies and cleaner wrasse have all been included in studies of the behavior.

A young dolphin named Bayley, studied at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, reportedly demonstrated mirror self-recognition at approximately seven months of age—earlier than the typical 18- to 24-month developmental range cited for human children. Reiss also references research involving a beluga named Maris and notes that she is now studying octopuses, including Caza and Aria, at Rockefeller University. Because most of an octopus’s neurons are distributed through its arms, the project raises questions about how a decentralized nervous system might process self-related information.

### Broader Implications

Reiss concludes that recognizing the cognitive capacities of other species should encourage greater empathy and more humane research practices. She advocates giving animals greater **“choice and control”** in experiments and tailoring studies to their distinct sensory and behavioral systems.

The presentation concerns comparative cognition and animal communication. **It does not present evidence connecting dolphins, octopuses or other species to UFOs, UAPs or paranormal phenomena.** Instead, its central message is that a better understanding of diverse animal minds could influence conservation, scientific ethics and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

## Provenance

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