Venue/Location: Bagdad Theater, 3702 Southeast Hawthorne Blvd, Phone: (503) 467-7521
Date: Monday, June 4, 2012 - 7:00 PM
OMSI Science Pub:
The Dolphin in the Mirror
Presenter: Diana Reiss, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Hunter College, City University
Admission: $5.00 suggested cover charge
21 and over, or minor with adult
Who is that dolphin in the mirror? When a dolphin looks in a mirror, does it know it is looking at itself? Dolphin expert Diana Reiss says yes. A pioneer in the exploration of the dolphin mind, Reiss will discuss discoveries about the nature of their intelligence such as their capacity for mirror self-recognition, creativity and manipulation, vocal learning, and even using an underwater keyboard. In light of what she’s learned about dolphin thinking, Reiss spends much of her time thinking dolphin and working as an advocate for their global protection.
Dr. Reiss’s research focuses on cetacean cognition, communication, comparative animal cognition, and the evolution of intelligence. Much of her work focuses on vocal communication and vocal learning in dolphins using observational and experimental approaches. She pioneered the use of underwater keyboards with dolphins to investigate their cognitive and communicative abilities. Dr. Reiss and her colleagues demonstrated that bottlenose dolphins and Asian elephants possess the rare ability for mirror self-recognition previously thought to be restricted to humans and great apes.
Dr. Reiss was director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the Osborn Laboratories of Marine Sciences at the New York Aquarium and co-chair of the Animal Enrichment Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Dr. Reiss served as a science advisor of the Animal Welfare Committee of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Her new book, The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphin Lives was released in Fall 2011.