Who's to say a person can?
With that statement, I will ask, what is your opinion on retardation?
As well, autism?
As far as whales, and YOUR scientific aproach.
"Scientists believe that whales are intelligent animals. An anatomical feature that scientists correlate with intelligence is the degree of folding of the upper surface of the whale’s brain, the area known as the cerebral cortex. This folding increases the surface area of the brain and is found in other intelligent animals, such as elephants and dogs. Whale brains generally show as much or more folding of the cerebral cortex as is seen in humans."
"Complex behavior may reveal more about whale intelligence than brain structure. Some whales in captivity exhibit extensive learning and problem-solving skills. Dolphin curiosity and their often-eager interactions with humans also suggest a high level of intelligence. Other research indicates that dolphins have a sense of self. Studies that presented individual dolphins with mirrors and video images found that the dolphins could recognize themselves and also distinguish themselves from other dolphins.
Perhaps the most intriguing indication of whale intelligence came with the discovery in the 1970s of whale singing, most notably in humpbacks. Humpback songs, which may last more than 20 minutes, consist of a series of phrases or sequences. All of the singing whales of a particular migrating group sing very nearly the same song. The songs change progressively from year to year, resulting in entirely new songs after four or five years. Bowhead whales also sing. The Inuit people of Alaska have told researchers that they long observed that bowheads make sounds 'like a guitar playing inside the water.' Singing most commonly occurs in the winter mating grounds, suggesting that it may be part of a mating ritual. Scientists have been unable to prove that whale songs encode language in an intellectual sense. The whale songs may simply be longer versions of the mating songs also noted in birds and amphibians.
Scientists have also observed killer whales teaching their young cultural practices. Certain killer whale pods have developed the habit of attacking sea lions on beaches. Scientists have observed adults in these pods teaching the young how to attack these sea lions. The adults make mock lunges toward the beach, then roll aside to permit the juvenile “trainees” to lunge toward the beach. All studies of whale intelligence are still preliminary, however. Scientists acknowledge that they are still far from accurately measuring, or even knowing how to measure, the intelligence of whales."
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761565254&pn=3
