Whales & Dolphins, their “Place” on Earth & How they Support Us All

By Melinda Meszaros PhD and Mahalia Michael Founder of the Academy of Brain Bliss

“Whales and dolphins fascinate us. They can be playful or majestic, but above all else, they are mysterious. We have a deep connection to them, and they have a unique connection to us. They are self aware and they might have collective consciousness as well.

They treat us the way they treat each other, with love and care – just think about the many stories of dolphins protecting people from shark attacks or saving them from drowning. They are empathic and will express emotions ranging from sadness to euphoria. They have been observed to grieve, and some suggest they are capable of suicide in captivity through consciously stopping to breathe . Yet most of the time they appear to be smiling and playful, and their abandoned freedom shows us the joy and bliss that is possible for humanity.

Whales and dolphins have distinct social relationships that they maintain using an extremely complex vocal communication system, most of which have barely begun to understand. For example, some consider the humpback whale’s song to be the most complex vocalization in the animal kingdom, while bowhead whale’s is extremely rich and varied.

Whales communicate over very large distances, several hundred miles, using very low frequencies. Whales sing their songs to communicate with their families, for mate selection, for gathering food and for navigation while traveling far distances, and potentially for reasons scientists have not even considered.

Whale songs consist of distinct sequences of groans, moans, roars, sighs and high-pitched squeals that may last up to 10 minutes or longer. Whales also sing for our planet! Their penetrating songs barrel through the sea with the power to keep balance and homeostasis on the ocean floor and beyond. Their deep delta tones orchestrate harmony and vibrancy.

Dolphins use clicks, chirps and whistles to communicate, and have a sophisticated sonar for navigation. New studies suggest that dolphins have an extra sound processing system in the brain. It starts at the inner ear and goes to the temporal lobe, where humans process language.

For echolocation they might use a different sound system – they emit sound through their melon, the fatty bulb on their forehead, that functions as an emitting radar, it focuses the sound that is sent out for echolocation. They receive the returning sound in pockets of fat in their jaw, which then forwards the information to their brain.

Dolphins use body language and touching for communication, they are highly sensual, sexual beings.

They sleep with half of their brain hemisphere awake while the other half sleeps. One eye open, on the awake side and the opposite eye closed. This way they can rest one side while the other scans their environment for predators.

Both whales and dolphins use frequencies that reach far beyond our hearing capabilities . Humans have a hearing range of around 20 Hz to 20kHz (20,000Hz), while bottlenose dolphins can hear and generate frequencies as low as 0.2 and as high as 150kHz.

Scientists think that the lower frequency vocalizations (about 0.2 to 50 kHz) are used in social communication while the higher frequency clicks are primarily used for echolocation.

Dolphins are capable of solving complex problems the way we do, both alone and while working together.

They are truly among nature’s most intelligent creatures!

Supporting the advanced capabilities of whales and dolphins for communication, social interaction and problem solving is their highly developed brain. They have large brains relative to their body size, larger than humans in some species.

More importantly though, they have a cerebral cortex that is suggestive of high intelligence. The surface layer of the brain is called the cerebral cortex; it is where most of the high-level information processing takes place. In order to allow for more processing, in highly evolved brains the surface area of the cortex is increased by folds and convolutions. And the dolphin brain’s cortex is much more convoluted than that of the human brain.

Whales are also essential for maintaining environmental balance. They make a crucial contribution to the cycle that provides us with oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, and feeds marine life by supporting the growth of phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton are tiny ocean plants that are consumed by many fish, produce 50-80% of the oxygen we breathe , and when they die they sink to the bottom of the ocean, taking carbon with them. Phytoplankton is dependent on iron for photosynthesis and growth, and it turns out, that whale feces is a major source of that iron .

By consuming large amounts of krill in the deep ocean, and releasing their feces close to the surface, whales are essential for recycling and making available the iron on the oceans.

Ancient and esoteric traditions believe that whales carry the codes of life and ancient records of the origins of life on our planet and themultiple universes which surround us.” 

You can watch the program “Trauma Release & Whale Sounds” shared by Mahalia Michael & Sara Jane in the video below