If you were the owner and director of an aquarium, what better name could you possibly have than “Moby.” Dr. Moby Solangi, owner and director for the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, MS, is a very happy man today. The Times explains why:
Amid all the stories of devastation and death emerging from Hurricane Katrina, one happy chapter was written yesterday — courtesy of eight bottlenose dolphins.They had lived in a marine aquarium for decades and were domesticated — three were born in captivity — but were washed miles out to sea when the hurricane hit Mississippi. Their owner feared that they lacked the skills of the wild to survive in the Gulf of Mexico.
But in a feat of navigation that has stunned their trainers, all eight have been discovered huddled together in fetid water a few hundred yards from land, having found their way back to the site in Gulfport where their aquarium once stood.
Their owner, Moby Solangi, speaking to The Times from a boat as he fed the dolphins last night, said: “We thought they were lost. They have all been in captivity for between 30 and 40 years. We didn’t think they had any navigation skills, and yet they are back here. We never thought we would find them, all together, so quickly.”
The chart on the right displays body weight vs. brain weight in some common animals. The farther to the northwest of the solid central line, the more intelligent the creature. As you can see there isn’t much of a difference between the owner of the aquarium and his prized dolphins. These dolphins did exactly what I would have done: wait out the storm in a pack and then try to find my way home. They’ve lost weight and they’ll get no help from FEMA (although you can help), but at least they survived and are now chillin’ at the Holiday Inn (sippin’ some Hen’). Voice of America has the video.
Ummm – how about Ahab? I wonder what long name Moby is short for …
Why didn’t the whales leave when they heard about the storm in the first place?
Not sure, but I find it never hurts to assume an “inder” at the end. How about “Mobinder?”
Mr. Solangi is REALLY smiling because of the non-stop jiggy action he gets by calling himself “Moby”.
George Bush doesn’t care about bottlenose dolphins.
carnivore, the joke might not be a new one, but it still causes me to laugh- thanks!
Abhi, this is complete nerdiness, but:
Is brain weight really a direct measure of intelligence? Seems a bit suspect. I know I should probably go look this up, but I’d rather bug you instead. 🙂
thanks for this post. it was a good news. I dont think Moby is a punjabi(Mobinder). His last name sounds like Gujju Solanki.
Keep in mind that the graph is showing you a ratio: Brain weight vs. body weight. It’s relative. I’m sure its not the only factor but its a good approximation. Here is where I got the graph (although I didn’t read the page). I’ve seen a similar graph many times. http://www.robinprior.net/articles/AMI04.html
Oh, and I should specify that this DOES NOT APPLY when comparing members of the same species.
Ah, thanks, Abhi… from the cited webpage, it seems that the solid black line refers to Encephalization Quotient (EQ), and it’s the distance from that line (above is EQ>1, below is EQ<1) that best measures intelligence. Body weight ratio is included, but the EQ takes other neurological differences into account.
Alright, that’s about all the graphs/math I can manage. I need to watch some Locke to counteract this. Maybe the dolphins will rescue Sawyer. 🙂
Sorry, don’t know quite why my post got mussed. Above the slope is EQ>1, below is EQ<1. Distance above or below the slope measures intelligence. EQ takes into account certain neurological differences, which corrects for just using the body weight-brain weight ratio as the measure.
Now I’m done. 😉
Hell no. Females have smaller brain mass but obviously higher intelligence. hee hee. Just kidding… sort of…
There you go.
Unless they’re one of those super-secret-military-attack dolphins.
YAY!!! That made my day.
More dolphin posts, please. :-)!
moby in this case actually stands for mo be in my pocket (meaning money). this man no more cares for those dolphins than he does world peace. he received a grant in the amount of 3 million dollars which he has spent on things that have nothing to do with dolphins. like a large salary for his daughter who does nothing with dolphins. he continues to receive taxpayer dollars for dolphin research and he has no dolphins to research. all the dolphins from marine life are now in the bahamas at paradise island resort. i would suggest you write to your congressman as i have and find out why he is still getting our hard earned tax dollars for research he has no way of performing.