Scientists are now declaring that dolphins, which were once ranked in intellect below chimps, are the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists saying they should be treated as “non-human persons.”

“Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to the human brain when corrected for body size,” said Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “The neuroanatomy suggests psychological continuity between humans and dolphins and has profound implications for the ethics of human-dolphin interactions.”

Communications amongst dolphins have been found to be similar to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. Researchers say that with these finding, it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing.