European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Stewart Taggart associated press l Ike or. Doolittle talking to his animals or. Louis Herman is teaching pair of bottle nose dolphins the mean ingot words. And while they Haven t exactly struck up a two Way conversation yet the seagoing mammals Are learning to do what they Are told. Herman director of the Kowalo Basin Marine mammal Laboratory of the University of Hawaii Tor six years has been working with two female dolphins Phoenix and Keakamai. Who were captured in the Gulf of Mexico. Using Pool toys coating in a tank the two dolphins have demonstrated they can understand certain words. But More important they have shown they understand that words Strung together in different ways can mean different things the Novelty of language Long thought to be an exclusively human attribute. What we re finding out is that dolphins can do quite a lot with that Large brain Herman says. The talk of the Dolphin atrium with training and the development of their knowledge and skill in lie Laboratory these animals can go far beyond what any had thought  through workouts in two connected circular tanks the dolphins have been taught a series of nouns modifiers and verbs. By combining the words into commands Herman tests their comprehension by their responses to commands. New commands Are created by new combinations of words or rearrangement of words according to grammatical rules. Correct response indicates the dolphins understanding of syntax or How word order affects meaning. For instance the command get the hoop and take it to the Frisbee Means something different from get the Frisbee. And take it to the  whether or not animals can create or understand sentences has Long been an open question in scientific research. It May take years to determine whether the dolphins eventually will be Able to produce language Herman says but his dolphins Are providing the equivalent of yes or no answers. We probed to see what would happen if we told the Dolphin to jump Over the Ball and there was no Ball Herman says. The Dolphin searched in both tanks for so seconds then slowly returned to the Trainer As if to say it s not there " that s a pretty Large step in animal work to be Able to have an animal report Back to you on what is out there and what is not out there Herman says. In this Way the Dolphin is telling us the contents of her immediate  with Ake two Small panels were installed at Tan Side or. Louii Herman holds a fish Basket a Ake jump Over him at the Hawaii mammal Laboratory. Page 14 the stars and stripes Jane Taylor a Trainer at the Kowalo Bali that she can hit to indicate yes or no Ana a Small staff of permanent trainers is complemented by students from the unfit Hawaii and volunteers. The work is support the National science foundation the own naval research of the . Navy and Earth private research organization. One recent morning a two hour sessions visual identification trials with Phoenix using As a toy Lawnmower a laundry Basket and a a storm Drain. An assistant held up an item fora seconds and then took it away. Later in easel held up the object again along with two other when Phoenix swam Over to the original Objet was rewarded with a fish. ? among other i Hungt the researchers a the experiments to test the dolphins memo results so far indicate the dolphins have w problem remembering what they we Reshni More than a minute earlier but they have a attention Span. After a while fhe Dol Punj angry waiting Herman says. I Ake was tested on 24 sentences of Irani four words each. She got 23 of them right when the researchers introduce new Wolf create new commands the dolphins Pertot has been Only slightly below that for Farrow commands says or. James Wolz Assoc fat of the facility. On occasion round hoops have Square hoops Large baskets with Saab different kinds of balls have been used , particular items has not significantly imps ref dolphins ability to perform commands a acc saturday feb