Akeakamai (c. 1976 – November 12, 2003) (Nickname: Ake ("ah-KAY")) was a female
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
, who, along with a companion female dolphin named Phoenix, and later
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
mates Elele and
Hiapo, were the subjects of
Louis Herman
Louis Herman (April 16, 1930 – August 3, 2016) was an American marine biologist. He was a researcher of dolphin sensory abilities, dolphin cognition, and humpback whales. He was professor in the Department of Psychology and a cooperating facul ...
's
animal language
Animal languages are forms of non-human animal communication that show similarities to human language. Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds or movements. Signing among animals may be considered complex enough to be a for ...
studies at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
. The most well-known paper is the original work described in Herman, Richards, & Wolz (1984). Akeakamai was also the subject of many other scientific studies of dolphin cognition, language acquisition, and sensory abilities.
Physically identifying features of Akeakamai included a straight eye line, a half-circle-shaped notch in the right side of her tail fluke, a small "Eiffel Tower"-shaped mark above her right eye, a thin notch in the side of her upper mouth, and a particularly wide
melon
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...
. She also had characteristic in-air whistle calls, including an unusual high-low-high whistle that was well below typical signature whistle frequencies. In the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...
, Akeakamai means "philosopher" or "lover (''ake'') of wisdom (''akamai'')". Akeakamai was also the name given to an
uplifted dolphin character in
David Brin's science fiction novel ''
Startide Rising
''Startide Rising'' is a 1983 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, the second book of six set in his Uplift Universe (preceded by '' Sundiver'' and followed by ''The Uplift War''). It earned both Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best No ...
''.
Akeakamai was euthanized due to cancer on November 12, 2003.
See also
*
Animal language
Animal languages are forms of non-human animal communication that show similarities to human language. Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds or movements. Signing among animals may be considered complex enough to be a for ...
*
Cetacean intelligence
*
List of individual cetaceans
Cetaceans are the animals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. This list includes individuals from real life or fiction, where fictional individuals are indicated by their source. It is arranged roughly taxonomically.
Baleen wh ...
* ''
Startide Rising
''Startide Rising'' is a 1983 science fiction novel by American writer David Brin, the second book of six set in his Uplift Universe (preceded by '' Sundiver'' and followed by ''The Uplift War''). It earned both Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best No ...
''
Notes
References
Media and press appearances
* Akeakamai can be seen in:
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
's Dolphins with
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
's Wildlife on One'
Dolphins: Deep Thinkerswith
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
, ABC's Touched by a Dolphin with
Sharon Lawrence
Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence (born June 29, 1961) is an American actress who played Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the ABC drama series ''NYPD Blue''. The role garnered her three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...
, The Discoverers
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
, Dolphins
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
, and NOVA.
Scientific references
* Cowan, R. (2003). Short-term memory for behavior in bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
* Herman, L. M. (2002). Exploring the cognitive world of the bottlenosed dolphin. In M. Bekoff, C. Allen & G. Burghardt (Eds.) The cognitive animal: Empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition. pp. 275–283. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
* Herman, L. M. (2002). Vocal, social, and self-imitation by bottlenosed dolphins. In C. Nehaniv &
K. Dautenhahn (Eds.). Imitation in Animals and Artifacts. pp. 63–108. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press
* Mercado, E. III, Killebrew, D.A., Pack, A.A., Macha, I.V.B., Herman, L.M. (2000). Generalization of 'same-different' classification abilities in bottlenosed dolphins. Behavioural Processes, 50, 79-94.
* Herman, L.M., Abinchandani, S.L., Elhajj, A.E., Herman, E.Y.K., Sanchez, J.L., & Pack, A.A. (2000). Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referential character of the human pointing journal. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113(4), 347-364.
* Braslau-Schneck, S. (1994). Innovative Behaviors and Synchronization in Bottlenosed Dolphins. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
* Herman, L.M., Pack, A.A. & Wood, A. M. (1994). Bottlenosed Dolphins Can Generalize Rules and Develop Abstract Concepts. Marine Mammal Science, 10, 70-80.
* Herman, L.M., Kuczaj, S. A. II, & Holder, M. D. (1993). Responses to Anomalous Gestural Sequences by a Language-Trained Dolphin: Evidence for Processing of Semantic Relations and Syntactic Information. Journal of Experimental Psychology, General, 122, 184-194.
* Herman, L. M., Pack A. A. & Morrel-Samuels, P. (1993). Representational and conceptual skills of dolphins. In H. R. Roitblat, L. M. Herman & P. Nachtigall (Eds) : Language and Communication: Comparative Perspectives, 273-298. Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
* Holder, M. D., Herman, L. M. & Kuczaj, S. III (1993). A bottlenosed dolphin's responses to anomalous gestural sequences expressed within an artificial gestural language. In H. R. Roitblat, L. M. Herman & P. Nachtigall (Eds): Language and Communication: Comparative Perspectives, 299-308. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
* Morrel-Samuels, P. & Herman, L. M. (1993). Cognitive factors affecting comprehension of gesture language signs: A brief comparison of dolphins and humans. In H. R. Roitblat, L. M. Herman & P. Nachtigall (Eds): Language and Communication: Comparative Perspectives, 211-222. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
* Prince, C. G. (1993). Conjunctive Rule Comprehension in a Bottlenosed Dolphin. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
* Herman, L. M. (1990). Cognitive performance of dolphins in visually guided tasks. In J. A. Thomas and R. A. Kastelein (Eds.), Sensory abilities of cetaceans: Laboratory and field evidence, (pp. 455–462). New York: Plenum.
* Herman, L. M., Morrel Samuels, P. (1990). Knowledge acquisition and asymmetries between language comprehension and production: Dolphins and apes as a general model for animals. In M. Bekoff & D. Jamieson (Eds.), Interpretation and explanation in the study of behavior: Vol 1: Interpretation, intentionality, and communication, 283-312. Boulder: Westview Press.
* Herman, L. M., Morrel-Samuels, P. and Pack, A. A. (1990). Bottlenosed dolphin and human recognition of veridical and degraded video displays of an artificial gestural language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 119, 215-230.
* Shyan, M. R. and Herman, L. M. (1987). Determinants of recognition of gestural signs in an artificial language by Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiops turncatus) and humans (Homo sapiens). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 101, 112-125.
*Herman, L. M. (1987). Receptive competences of language-trained animals. In J. S. Rosenblatt, C. Beer, M. C. Busnel, & P. J. B. Slater (Eds.), Advances in the Study of Behavior. Vol. 17, 1-60. Petaluma, CA: Academic Press.
*Herman, L. M., Richards, D. G. & Wolz, J. P. (1984). Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins. Cognition, 16, 129-219.
*Herman, L. M. and Forestell, P. H. (1985). Reporting presence or absence of named objects by a language-trained dolphin. Neuroscience and Bioehavioral Reviews, 9, 667-691.
* Tarbox, B. J. (1988
Tursiops electronicus: Stimulated tutoring of a language trained dolphininterview in the free
Prolog chapter o
Seven Languages in Seven Weeksfrom
Bruce Tate
Bruce A. Tate is an American author on the topic of the Java, Ruby, and Elixir programming languages and other computer software. He is also the CTO of icanmakeitbetter.com and the editor of Elixir books for the Pragmatic Bookshelf.
Works
* ''Ado ...
. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
{{refend
External links
The Dolphin Institute Not all include Akeakamai.
1976 animal births
2003 animal deaths
Individual dolphins
Individual animals in the United States