Dr. DIANA REISS is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Hunter College and in Psychology Program at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Her research focuses on dolphin cognition, communication, comparative animal cognition and the evolution of intelligence. She pioneered the use of an underwater keyboard with dolphins to provide them with increased degrees of choice and control and to investigate their cognitive and vocal learning abilities.
Reiss and her colleagues also demonstrated the capacity for mirror self-recognition in bottlenose dolphins and Asian elephants, a rare ability in the animal world. Her advocacy work in conservation and animal welfare includes the protection of dolphins in the tuna-fishing industry and her current efforts to bring an end to the killing of dolphins in the drive hunts in Japan.
She has authored papers published in numerous international scientific journals and book chapters and her work has been featured in many television science programs. Her book, The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving dolphin Lives was published in 2011.
