Dolphins might be able to detect pregnant women's growing fetus with the help of echolocation, experts say.
A dolphin is capable of producing sounds such as whistling, clicking and buzzing, in its environment and hearing the echoes that return. It helps these mammals to identify shapes and locations of objects. This echolocation technique is also used in ultrasound used by doctors to detect a developing human fetus.
However, dolphins' capabilities of detecting human fetuses are not scientifically proven yet, but some studies show that they can recognize objects in boxes and through other blockades. This means that the idea of these mammals detecting human fetuses cannot be dismissed.
"I think it's extremely plausible (dolphins) would be able to detect a fetus," said Lori Marino, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta. She added that one needs to do a "well-controlled" study to give a "definitive statement."
There are a few reports, which suggest that dolphins have an unusual interest in pregnant women, reported LiveScience. They swim up to expecting women and make perky noises near their bellies. It is believed by some experts that dolphins can sense a change in a familiar woman's echo form when she's pregnant.
According to a speculation by Malcolm Nicolson, professor of history of medicine at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, the dolphins are blessed with the skill to detect fetal heartbeat in woman they have never bumped into before.
But Marino said she believed that dolphins can see a rough image of the baby. "We know from other studies that they are very good at going from a visual image to an acoustic image and vice versa," Marino said. Similar to sonograms, echolocation could possibly give images of the unborn baby to the dolphins, reported LiveScience.
Echolocation ability is something that dolphins are not born with. They build it over time. For example, even before learning to make complex sounds, baby dolphins babble, Marino explained. But she added that the echolocation should be studied properly in order to find out more about it.
