Holeyfin

I was hoping to spread my book reviews out a little, but I am already three titles behind, so I thought I'd rather catch up all at once and have my facts straight rather than wait and forget.
I read somewhere that dolphins, along with chimpanzees, where the smartest animals besides us. So I went searching for a book about dolphins. I ended up getting To Touch a Wild Dolphin by Rachel Smolker.
While the book was a quick read, and not poorly written, I didn't care for it much in that it was more of a memoir of the author, and less about the actual data and research I was looking for. It was a good story, and had I been just wanting "something to read" in general, I probably would have appreciated it more. The other problem I saw with the book is that much of the data and methods of collecting data appear to me to be very outdated and so I am not sure how accurate the information I learned really is.
But I thought I'd pass around a few highlights/ interesting observations the author made while studying dolphins at Monkey Mia on the west coast of Australia. I am choosing facts that I don't think have changed with more recent observations.

• Dolphins evolved from a land animal (as did whales). They most likely belong to the group of mammals referred to as ungulates (cows, camels, deer etc).
  
• Their terrestrial origin is the reason why their tails are horizontal and flip up and down vertically through the water, as opposed to fish where they flip side to side.
• Dolphins are the only mammals who breath consciously. If for some reason they are rendered unconscious they will drown.
• Dolphins don't "sleep" or go into REM, so theoretically they don't dream. They do have the ability to rest one side of their brain at a time though which is their equivalent of sleep.
• Dolphins can plan ahead, (example: dolphin wants to fight another dolphin ( for what else? a female) but is outnumbered. He will go get his "pals" and then come back).
• Dolphins can use simple tools. They employ sponges and shells to do tasks.
• Baby dolphins nurse for up to four years!
• Dolphins have names for themselves. (unique whistle calls)

If anyone knows of, or has read any good books on dolphins that would maybe focus more on their intelligence, and the methods used to discern it, please let me know! It's really fun to think about the possibilities of being able some day to communicate with dolphins the way we can communicate with chimpanzees now. Can you imagine what they could tell us about the ocean?

P.S. Holeyfin was the matriarch dolphin at Monkey Mia. She was named such because she had a hole in her dorsal fin.