Comments on: Dolphins Heal from Seemingly Fatal Injuries in Just Weeks

By: Beau

Beau — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:08:13 +0000

If it damages it’s mouth, it may not be able to eat. Not being able to eat causes death, by itself.

This article doesn’t say they grow back lost fins, it just says they don’t have a basketball-sized hole in their side.

Oh and they have sex for fun, so if they enjoy having the sex, they feel pain as well.

By: Rayce

Rayce — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:48:11 +0000

It’s not that it doesn’t feel pain, it’s that it is able to block out the pain(by slowing blood flow to a specific area). From what I understand.

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:19:45 +0000

I can’t make heads or tails of this article. I thought pain was a fundamental biological mechanism, produced early in the evolution of life and profoundly adaptive. And thus conserved through time and speciation.

Isn’t the loss of nerve sensation the cause of extremity damage in leprosy? The victim cannot get feedback from their affected limbs and they eventually scar their body through their own lack of awareness.

Finally, this result would seem to conflict with this study:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/07/21/dolphins-protect-themselves-with-sponges-to-seek-out-bottom-dwelling-fish/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+80beats+%2880beats%29

Why would a dolphin seek to protect it’s beak if it does not experience pain? The more so if it has some type of superior healing powers?