Sapient Cetaceans: Difference between revisions

* [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' [[The Verse|'verse]] establishes that dolphins were recognized as sapient beings [[Alternate History|in the late 20th century]]. Not long after they sue us for our whaling practices in a suit that literally takes hundreds of years to get through the court system (the dolphins enjoy it too much to let it resolve).

* The 1986 computer novel ''[http://portal.stodge.org Portal: A Dataspace Retrieval]'' gets downright philosophical:

I could build them a ship, I tell them, and they chitter and click but do not assent. I tell them man has left behind vast tubes of air, filled with the plants and life of earth, floating in space. They find this interesting, but silly. They will think about it, they tell me. Perhaps in a hundred years or so they will have an answer. They've been around for thirty million years, and are in no hurry. They tell me they haven't finished exploring the oceans yet.'' }}

* In the ''[[Illuminatus]]'' trilogy, dolphins aid the Discordians in their underwater expeditions.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'': in a [[Treehouse of Horror]] episode dolphins invade the land and take over. They can speak English.

* In [[Rankin/Bass Productions]]' ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'', Rudolph enlists the help of a friendly, talking whale to help him go from place to place looking for the Baby New Year.

* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' had occasional appearances by [[Orson Welles|Orson Whales]], who had the same voice as [[Pinky and The Brain|Brain]].