The Smartest Animals in the Sea
19th February 2020 by Jaksyn Peacock
Pre-listening vocabulary
- creature: a living animal, insect, or person
- species: a type of animal or group of similar animals
- self-awareness: knowing and understanding one’s own identity
- associated: linked, connected
- communicate: to share information by talking or through body language
Listening activity
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Gapfill exercise
Comprehension questions
[wp_quiz id=”19271″]Discussion/essay questions
- Dolphins are sometimes kept in aquariums or zoos and taught tricks for human entertainment. This is a controversial topic because many people believe that dolphins and other animals belong in the wild. How do you feel about this?
Transcript
Dolphins are adorable, friendly, and playful creatures. They’re also some of the most intelligent animals in the world. They have very large brains compared to most animals. The dolphin is also one member of a small group of species that can recognize their reflections in a mirror. This shows that dolphins have self-awareness, which is a trait associated with intelligence. Dolphins also communicate with each other using whistles. They seem to use this type of communication to solve problems, which might mean that they have their own language. Dolphins even have individual names. Every dolphin has a “signature whistle” that it can use to introduce itself. Humans are still trying to understand dolphins, but if they really do have their own language, we may be able to communicate with them one day.