Watch Conversations With Dolphins

Conversations With Dolphins is an hour-long documentary from CuriosityStream that explores the possibility of communicating with dolphins using their language. The film follows Denise Herzing, a marine biologist, and her team as they attempt to establish a dialogue with a pod of wild dolphins off the coast of the Bahamas.

The documentary begins with a brief history of scientists' attempts to understand dolphin communication. It highlights the work of John Lilly, who in the 1960s attempted to teach dolphins human language by using a method called "speak and spell." The experiment was considered a failure, as the dolphins only mimicked the sounds and did not develop any understanding of the words. Despite this setback, scientists have continued to study dolphin communication, and Denise Herzing's work is one of the most recent attempts at achieving communication with these intelligent creatures.

The film then goes on to show the team setting up camp on a nearby island and preparing the equipment necessary for data collection. They then head out to sea to find the pod of dolphins they have been studying for the past few years. The cameras capture the beauty of the Bahamian waters, and the viewer gets a sense of how difficult it is to locate these elusive creatures despite using sonar and visual cues.

When the team finally locates the pod, they began their attempts to communicate with them. Denise Herzing and her team devised a unique approach to communicating with dolphins, which they called "two-way communication." This method involves playing a series of whistles to the dolphins and then using a specialized keyboard to generate sounds that the dolphins might understand. The team aims to establish any kind of a dialogue with the animals and use that to understand their social and cognitive lives, ecology and ultimately understand their communication system.

The film also features a few members of the team, who showcase their different roles in the research. There are interns who assist in data collection, audio specialists who help record the sounds the dolphins make, and statisticians who analyze the data gathered, all working together to achieve the same goal of communicating with dolphins and potentially understanding more about the creatures.

Throughout the film, Denise Herzing explains how difficult it is to study dolphins and other marine life due to the expanse of the ocean and the unpredictable nature of the animals. However, she remains optimistic, convinced that she and her team will one day establish a two-way communication system with the dolphins.

The viewer also gets to know some of the individual dolphins in the pod, like a young calf being raised by its mother and another dolphin they call “Tiny,” who is known for his unique whistles. These dolphins become characters in the documentary, and the audience gains an appreciation for their complexity and intelligence.

The tone of the documentary is positive and uplifting, and the viewer gets a sense of how dedicated the team is to their research. Conversations With Dolphins doesn’t just observe the scientists' attempts but also delves into the reasons behind their passion for this work. Denise Herzing, in particular, talks about how understanding one species, dolphins, could give us insights into consciousness, cognition, and social lives in other species, even humans.

Overall, Conversations With Dolphins is a beautifully shot documentary about a fascinating subject. The film provides a window into the world of the scientists working to communicate with these intelligent creatures and the dolphins they are trying to communicate with. The documentary personifies these animals, and we appreciate them as individuals that are worthy of understanding beyond the scientific community. The film raises questions on the ethics of communicating with animals beyond gesture, touch and vocalizations. After viewing it, the viewer is left contemplating the possibility of truly understanding another species and the implications of such communication.