Effective communication between human and dolphin using information devices

The dolphin is an animal that we are interested in researching and have established various relationships with for a very long time. They are known as one of the smartest animals, and diverse research about their cognitive ability has been reported from many different viewpoints. In particular, their visual perception and characteristics of visibility of panels on which some figures are printed have been studied, but as yet their perception of information device screens has not. We attempted to reveal their ability to perceive information through pictures displayed on a screen in order to utilize information devices effectively for research and communication in the future. We displayed two kinds of target pictures on the screen to a female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and assigned a particular action of the subject to each picture. We switched the pictures in front of her and recorded her reactions as a success rate and how she would act in case of failure. Ultimately, she proved that she understands the concept of information devices, and it is expected to be further established that dolphins perceive dynamic information more easily than static information.