A visiting scientist gave Bermuda residents a glimpse into the mysterious world of the wild dolphin, a species whose complex brains and relationships have long been considered on par with humans.

Denise Herzing is the research director of the Florida-based non-profit Wild Dolphin Project and spends about five months a year researching dolphin behaviour at sea.

She recently visited Bermuda and gave a talk at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and Bermuda College about the project, designed to create inter-species communication -- a two-way conversation -- between dolphins and humans.

One University of California expert has said Dr. Herzing's project is "the most promising'' of only three sound scientific efforts in the field worldwide.

Dr. Herzing and the rest of the research team conduct their studies on a 62-foot catamaran, observing the behaviour of wild spotted dolphins and collecting data. Previous scientific studies have already shown that the complexity of dolphin's brains are comparable to humans. They have an extensive neocortex -- which is responsible for humour, creativity, and logical thought in humans. After 14 years of research, Dr. Herzing has identified hundreds on individual dolphins and collected an extensive amount of data on their communication systems by recording clicks, signature whistles and other sounds while recording behaviour.

Perhaps one of the most encouraging aspects of the research, according to Dr.

Herzing, is that dolphins appear to be as curious about humans as the research team is curious about them.

"We're learning about dolphins in general and what it's like growing up in a dolphin society,'' said Dr. Herzing.

"It's like being a cultural anthropologist, you're interacting with another species to understand (their versions of) meaning -- I try to build a rapport so the dolphins become comfortable with me,'' she added.

"I try to build trust with them, and we learn a lot about etiquette and relationships -- it causes us to place ourselves in a different context.

"We correlate aggressive sounds with aggressive behaviour and correlate feeding sounds with feeding behaviour, then began to start looking at smaller details.'' Dr. Herzing's research has scientific, social, political and spiritual implications; if two-way communication with dolphins can be effectively established, it may cause more humans to see themselves as only one part of a grander scheme.

But she noted that relating to another species on such complex terms requires mutual respect and an establishment of inter-species etiquette, reflected in the project motto "in their world, on their terms''.

If the project is as successful as it promises to be, the methods used for establishing communication between dolphins and humans could also be applied universally to other species.

Dolphins And The Deep Blue Sea: American marine zoologist Denise Herzing (see in photo at right) is attempting to establish two-way communication between humans and dolphins through her research.