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Having worked with many different terrestrial and marine animals for over 25 years, it is always interesting to me the perceptions and questions people have regarding animals and behavior, especially dolphins, one of the most popular of animal species. |
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Some of the common misperceptions are simply because of the way dolphins look - since they always have a "smile" on their face, they must always be happy, benevolent, and gentle. Some have to do with how intelligent dolphins are - we have often read of their large brains and superior intelligence, smarter some say, than man. Many perceptions are created from the repeated telling of anecdotal stories of other people's experiences with these mammals. |
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People have a tendency to impose their own standards onto animals in many ways. An animal that looks "mean" - let's say a shark or snake - is perceived to be that way. While an animal that looks friendly and even cute - like a chimpanzee or hippopotamus - is perceived differently. Certainly, any one of those four animals I just mentioned has the capability of harming you given a chance - the hippo or chimp probably the more likely of the four to actually do so. I am often asked if the animal I am using in an educational presentation will bite or if a particular species is "friendly". In the wild, all animals behave in the interest of their own survival and, many times, the survival of their kin. Many animals - growing up in a zoo or other professional environment - are able to be taught that they have nothing to fear from humans, and do not need to act defensive or aggressive to meet their needs. Dolphins are one of the species that are particularly adapted to this type of conditioning. |
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Virtually all of the dolphins I have known at SeaWorld appear very interested in what us humans are doing in and around the pool, regardless of the amount of interaction they have already received from those same humans or the number of other dolphins they have around them. Talk about social animals! In the wild though, this behavior can be detrimental to both humans and the dolphins themselves. When any animal in the wild is habituated to the presence, touch or feeding from humans, it removes the natural fear a wild animal needs of humans. Wild dolphins have been known to become aggressive towards humans, ignore their own offspring, become dependant on the food fed by humans, eat unhealthy and unnatural foods, and trust humans who have then done cruel things to them. |
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The "smile" a dolphin seems to portray is obviously just a physical characteristic, albeit one that has the effect of eliciting a warm, fuzzy feeling from us humans. Dolphins in the wild emit the same wide range of behaviors most other animals do as well - foraging for food, play, especially when young, aggression (both intraspecific, within their own species, and interspecific, between themselves and other species), breeding, caring for young, etc. When researchers have "tested" dolphins for measurements of intelligence, dolphins always seem to do well and they definitely have amazing physiological capabilities for their aquatic existence. It has always been exceptionally difficult if not impossible, however, to accurately measure and compare levels of intelligence, even just between humans! Dolphins don't readily figure out how to jump over even a low barrier, whereas a child most certainly would. Humans have figured out how to fly, but have not yet come close to the underwater capabilities of marine animals such as echolocation, speed and agility. |
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Just like people, dolphins have very distinct personalities. Some are dominant and shrewd, some are timid and docile, while others are astute and gentle, and still others are aggressive, yet flighty. No two dolphins are the same...but I would say that of any species with which I have worked and any two people I have met. Just as we don't like to be categorized or "labeled", so too I think we should be careful with animals - we are all supremely adapted and "designed" to flourish within our niche. |