Dolphins in Starfleet

[Mig1]

After reading the thread in the Narrorators board, I have to ask... what the hell is this all about?

In the 24th century are dolphins considered sentient and they can go to starfleet acadamy now?

[Phantom]

Define sentient. And can you prove that dolphins and whales are not? Who is studing who?

[JALU3]

Before I start this I would like to say that I hope that no flaming begins here cause my @ss doesn't take heat normally, and thus isn't tempered.

Ok, Yes there are dolphins and wales in starfleet. See the blue prints of the USS Enterprise-D. They went on sale in the late 1990's.

Furthermore, I speculate that even though their sentience has been argued for a long time now . . . actual renewed contact and recruitment probably didn't start in any amount until after the Whale Probe Incident, of which Star Trek IV was about. Thus dolphins, whales, and their like haven't been in starfleet in large numbers @ any point until now.

Besides that, we have no canon record that the senders of aformention probed have been contacted, or attempted to contact us, since the incident. Therefore carrying whale or dolphin crew members would be in the best interest for Starfleet, not only for navigation of communication purposes, but just in case a starship was to meet that race again as not to be neutralized.

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"See Everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little." -Pope John XXIII

[Mig1]

I didn't mean to start a debate on whether or not Dolphins are sentient, just that I thought it was pretty wierd, and never really saw or heard anything about it until now.

[Karg]

Well one easy way to find out would be to try totalk to one with the universal translator.

Karg