How are humans related to whales and dolphins?

[mrgorth]

as I suspect we're more than just 2 different kinds of mammals.

[LWolf]

1. Interesting question.

One glimpse:

http://www.aua.am/web/group15/about.htm

About 55 million years ago the land mammal ancestors of the Dolphins evolved into the seas. For the past 30-40 million years they have had the same cranial capacity & have hardly changed.The pectoral fins have almost the same bone structure as humans, with 3 upper arm bones & 5 fingers. The embryos show distinct traces of their terrestrial roots, with a domed cranium, some hair, a nose & mouth, rudimentary external ears, constricted neck & hind limbs. The very early embryos of the Dolphin & the Human are very difficult to distinguish. The work of Dr. John Lilly has shown us that Dolphins, specifically the Bottlenose Dolphin, has a brain proportionately a little larger than Humans & in some ways more developed. Their Cerebral Cortex is far more convoluted, which, according to our own definitions, is a measure of conceptualising ability. As non-prehensile animals with no need to construct in their environment, this huge Brain Power has been devoted to other things of which we have barely glimpsed. We do see a highly socially developed species with a high level of emotional self-control, complex language & even humor, as well as an extraordinary sonar echolocation system by which they can `see' an incredibly complex 3-D sonic picture including, like ultra-sound, into physical substance. It clearly appears that they are highly telepathic & exhibit some kind of collective consciousness within a pod.

[Dover]

2. Wow....I knew about the brain connection but not the rest. I wonder

what they looked like as "land mammals"? Would that be speculation or are there fossils of their land ancestors?

[AlienGirl]

5. Dolphin gangs, dolphin genocide, and dolphin bullies

Dolphins share some decidedly unattractive traits with humans. Adolescent male dolphins will form gangs and rape lone females. Dolphins will sometimes go on a genocidal killing spree against their cousins, the porpoises, and kill hundreds at a time--not to eat them nor to protect food resources from them, but apparently for the sheer enjoyment of mass killing. Individual dolphins sometimes become bullies and push around human swimmers and smaller dolphins.

Sometimes I wonder if they're trying to understand their own bad behavior by studying these land-based killer apes...

Tucker

[Desertrose]

3. check this out....

its an ad (for Johnnie Walker!) .....but seriously...the images are very cool...

http://www.framestore-cfc.com/commercials/jwalker_fish/pop_jwalkerfish.html

I know there is quite a profound connection between humans & dolphins...used to have some nifty links...here is an interesting one....


The Children of the Wave–those dolphin-twined in spirit, bring to the earth a signal for union. This is a union of SPIRIT, yet it also gradually transforms the DNA to accommodate the physical reflection of that spiritual union. Understand the "union" of which we speak is not completed with the merging of the dolphin and the human tribes. This is only the first stage of a greater reunification that the dolphins hold in their field for humanity. Therefore those choosing NOT to be "Dolphin Children" still participate and benefit from the "Wave" effect on the planet, each soul contributing in it’s own way.


In essence, however, a holistic view of the working of the Dolphin Children could be seen as touching into the deepest part of the LOVE that the dolphins see in humanity, and recognizing it as a bridge between the two species. This bridging is physically contained in the crystalline structure of the DNA, which is almost identical in dolphins and humans. When we say "crystalline structure" we refer to the most refined level of the DNA that is not yet in evidence by the current science of the surface earth.

http://www.spiritmythos.org/earth/mer/dolphins/dolphchild.html
on edit - check the collection of links at the end of above article.

This is the "Dolphin- Human Connection" --> http://paulapeterson.com/dolphin_human_connection.html

peace
DR

[Cerridwen]

4. Dolphins protect New Zealand swimmers from great white shark

http://weird-news.news.designerz.com/dolphins-protect-new-zealand-swimmers-from-great-white-shark.html


I remembered reading this a few weeks ago here at DU. Seems to go along with the spirit of this thread.

Rob Howes and three other lifeguards were on a training swim about 100 metres off shore at Ocean Beach near here when the dolphins raced in and herded the group together.

"They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Howe said Tuesday.

When he tried to drift away from the group, two of the bigger dolphins herded him back.

He then saw why. A three-metre long great white shark was cruising toward the group about two metres below the surface.

<more at link>