524 



We hope that the ethic embodied in the Pryor bill will not be 

 absent from the legislation reported out by this committee. Marine 

 mammals are obviously among the most highly evolved and intelligent 

 of living beings. This should not be ignored. 



If the term intelligence is used in an interspecies context as a 

 synonym for humanness, it is clear that no living creature can possibly 

 be, by definition as "intelligent" as we are. 



But, are we justified in supposing because a whale or a walrus rep- 

 resents a different evolutionary history, does not have hands, and 

 cannot manipulate, manage or, of course destroy its environment, that 

 its awareness is necessarily less significant than our own ? 



Tlie size and complexity of the brains of certain cetaceans, in par- 

 ticular, indicate that exactly the opposite may be the same. 



The paleontological record demonstrates that the bramcases of 

 mammals returning to an aquatic and marine environment tend, over 

 a period of millions of years, to dramatically enlarge ; to become fore- 

 shortened and to widen transversely to accommodate enlarged audi- 

 tory association areas. 



The brain of the common harbor seal is about 250 grams; notably 

 larger and more convoluted than that of a terrestrial carnivore of 

 comparable size, and roughly comparable motor requirements. 



The California Sea Lion has a brain of about 380 grams, which ap- 

 proaches the size and apparent complexity of a chimpanzee. 



The walrus has a brain of about 1,000 grams, close to a human bram 



in size. 



Cetacean brains range from about 1 pound in the common porpoise 

 to 19 pounds in the sperm whale. The brain of the bottle-nosed 

 dolphin has been investigated with particular care by both United 

 States and Russian scientists. The dolphin's brain weighs close to 4 

 pounds, being both larger and more convoluted than our own. 



Four large parietal gyrii are evidently concerned with auditory 

 association in these dolphins. Totaling at least 10 times the mass of 

 auditory association areas in the human brain. The killer whales' 

 brain weighs 12 pounds, while most of the baleen whales' brains range 

 around 15 pounds. 



Finally, while the effect of unilateral action such as this legislation 

 will have profound effects and can set a felicitous example for other 

 nations throughout the world, it should be stressed that international 

 agreements to save the marine environment must be consummated. 



We should like to suggest that the marine sanctuary concept should 

 be applied on an international scale. The State Department should 

 be instructed to call for the establislnnent of international sanctuaries 

 free of killing and technological disturbance in Antarctica, the Bering 

 Sea, and other regions. 



The bankrupt legal doctrine of res nullius (belonging to no one) 

 must be abolished. It must be replaced with a doctrine of res communh 

 which takes into account the interconnectedness of all life, and which 

 considers the destruction of any life form, the degradation of any eco- 

 logical system, as an intolerable threat to all. 



It may w^ell be that the survival both of marine mammals, and of 

 ourselves, will eventually hinge upon this being acomplished. 



Mr. DiNGELL. The committee is grateful to you for your statement. 



Mr. Keith. Did I hear or understand you to say that the mammals 

 were intelligent as human beings ? 



