Editing Cetacea (section)

=== Intelligence ===
{{Main|Cetacean intelligence}}[[File:Whales Bubble Net Feeding-edit1.jpg|thumb|Bubble net feeding]]

Cetacea are known to teach, learn, cooperate, scheme and grieve.<ref name="wwwu">{{cite news |last=Siebert |first=Charles |title=Watching Whales Watching Us |work=[[The New York Times]] Magazine |date=8 July 2009 |access-date=29 August 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/magazine/12whales-t.html?pagewanted=all}}</ref>

Smaller cetaceans, such as dolphins and porpoises, engage in complex play behavior, including such things as producing stable underwater [[toroid]]al air-core [[vortex]] rings or "[[bubble ring]]s". The two main methods of bubble ring production are rapid puffing of air into the water and allowing it to rise to the surface, forming a ring, or swimming repeatedly in a circle and then stopping to inject air into the [[Helix|helical]] vortex currents thus formed. They also appear to enjoy biting the vortex rings, so that they burst into many separate bubbles and then rise quickly to the surface. Whales produce bubble nets to aid in herding prey.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Wiley, David|s2cid=55168063 |title=Underwater components of humpback whale bubble-net feeding behaviour |journal=Behaviour |volume=148 |issue=5 |pages=575–602 |year=2011 |doi=10.1163/000579511X570893 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

[[File:Orca porpoising.jpg|thumb|Killer whale [[Cetacean surfacing behaviour#Porpoising|porpoising]]]]

Larger whales are also thought to engage in play. The southern right whale elevates its tail fluke above the water, remaining in the same position for a considerable time. This is known as "sailing". It appears to be a form of play and is most commonly seen off the coast of Argentina and South Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carwardine |first1=M. H. |last2=Hoyt |first2=E. |year=1998 |title=Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises |journal=NSW: Reader's Digest |isbn=978-0-86449-096-4}}</ref> Humpback whales also display this behaviour.<ref>{{Cite web |author=A. O. L. Staff |date=2016-07-15 |title=Humpback whale 'tail-sails' as she watches her calf off the Maui coast |url=https://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/11/humpback-whale-tail-sails-as-she-watches-her-calf-off-maui-coast/21326396/?guccounter=1 |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.aol.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Self-awareness]] appears to be a sign of abstract thinking. Self-awareness, although not well-defined, is believed to be a precursor to more advanced processes such as [[metacognition|metacognitive reasoning]] (thinking about thinking) that humans exploit. Dolphins appear to possess self-awareness.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.livescience.com/4272-elephant-awareness-mirrors-humans.html | title=Elephant Self-Awareness Mirrors Humans |publisher=Live Science |date=30 October 2006 |access-date=29 August 2015}}</ref> The most widely used test for self-awareness in animals is the [[mirror test]], in which a temporary dye is placed on an animal's body and the animal is then presented with a mirror. Researchers then explore whether the animal shows signs of self-recognition.<ref name="Mirror test">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/01/science/brainy-dolphins-pass-the-human-mirror-test.html |title=Mirror test |author=Derr, Mark |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=3 August 2015|date=May 2001 }}</ref>

Critics claim that the results of these tests are susceptible to the [[Clever Hans]] effect. This test is much less definitive than when used for [[primates]]. Primates can touch the mark or the mirror, while dolphins cannot, making their alleged self-recognition behavior less certain. Skeptics argue that behaviors said to identify self-awareness resemble existing social behaviors, so researchers could be misinterpreting self-awareness for social responses. Advocates counter that the behaviors are different from normal responses to another individual. Dolphins show less definitive behavior of self-awareness, because they have no pointing ability.<ref name="Mirror test" />

In 1995, Marten and Psarakos used video to test dolphin self-awareness.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Marten|first1=Ken|last2=Psarakos|first2=Suchi|title=Using Self-View Television to Distinguish between Self-Examination and Social Behavior in the Bottlenose Dolphin (''Tursiops truncatus'')|journal=Consciousness and Cognition|volume=4|number=2|date=June 1995|doi=10.1006/ccog.1995.1026|pages=205–224|pmid=8521259|s2cid=44372881}}<!--|access-date=5 September 2015--></ref> They showed dolphins real-time footage of themselves, recorded footage and another dolphin. They concluded that their evidence suggested self-awareness rather than social behavior. While this particular study has not been replicated, dolphins later "passed" the mirror test.<ref name="Mirror test" />