Alan A (60yrs old from Hawaii): Since dolphins breathe the same air we do, what impact, if any, does our air quality have on them?

One might expect air quality to affect a dolphin’s lungs, but there are not many studies addressing that issue. One event that shows how our activities affect the health of dolphin lungs was the BP oil spill. Dolphins breathe at the surface of the water, where it is easy to inhale oil from a spill such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. Dead dolphins that washed up along shorelines in the area of that spill had severe lesions in their lungs, unlike what is normally seen in wild dolphins. It is worth remembering, that presumably this was also very painful for them.

Our air quality also affects the ocean and its inhabitants in ways that are less obvious though extremely destructive. A highly insidious and pervasive problem with our current atmosphere is ocean acidification. Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere emitted from fossil fuels mixes with seawater to form carbonic acid in the ocean. This changes the pH of the water, making it more acidic. The acidity of our oceans has already increased by 30% in the last 250 years. And why is an acidic ocean a problem? The first victim of ocean acidity is coral, the small animals that use calcium carbonate to grow. In an acidic ocean, calcium carbonate is increasingly difficult for these animals to synthesize. This photo by my friend Orvil Clark, known on Instagram as @ogc77, shows what a healthy reef looks like. 

An understanding of the food chain would lead us to hypothesize that less coral means less food for coral-eating fish and perhaps less food for bigger fish who eat smaller fish, and less food for the dolphins who eat those fish. Indirectly, our air quality may be starving dolphins via ocean acidification. Mercury from coal plants also gets into the ocean from the air and into the food chain. Once again, as you travel up the food chain, mercury accumulates to toxic levels by the time you reach dolphins. Baby dolphins can ingest mercury from their mother’s milk, resulting in increased infant mortality.

Ben D (NYC filmmaker): Can Dolphin’s survive Global Warming?

It’s hard to say whether dolphins can survive global warming, because it is difficult to fully estimate the ways in which global warming will impact dolphins. A diminished food source is one very likely issue that dolphins will face due to global warming. And remember that certain dolphin species such as spinners don’t seem to be highly resilient, as they have inflexible hunting and resting schedules and only eat very specific kinds of food. Loss of habitat due to increasingly warm waters could also challenge the resiliency of dolphins who need to rest in bays with white sandy bottoms. It’s also hard to estimate how dolphin reproductive success might be affected by global warming, or increased competition from expansion of other species that may thrive under warmer conditions. Global warming might also affect different dolphin species to different degrees. Bottlenose dolphins may be more resilient than spinners, but we would need more research to know for certain. The scariest thing about global warming is that it is happening at a rate too fast for scientists to fully grasp the effects before we have made them much worse. There is more information on the Dolphin Dance Project ‘Protect’ page about the impact of climate change on dolphins and what we can do about it.

For Further Thought…

Global warming is happening right now. Some species may thrive under these conditions, while others suffer. The prospects definitely do not look promising for humans or for dolphins. And when we consider the interconnectedness of all living things, global warming seems like a much more ominous and pervasive threat. An examination of how we contribute to this problem in our everyday lives is necessary, so we can begin to imagine what other options might be possible. All of our choices make a difference.

The post Dolphins in the Anthropocene appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Cosmo (7yrs old from Illinois): Do dolphins eat sea turtles?

Dolphins do not eat turtles! Dolphins do eat other animals, such as fish, squid, shrimps, jellyfish, and octopi. The kinds of fish dolphins eat include mackerel, cod, and herring. Dolphins also get water through the food they eat, so they don’t need to drink water. Different species of dolphins eat different kinds of fish, and they can be very picky about what they eat. The spotted dolphins that Dolphin Dance Project has gotten to know eat mostly small squid and flying fish at night, and snack on razor fish and other similar fish in the sand during the day. Spinner dolphins in Hawaii have been found to eat fish, squid and shrimp. The squid and shrimp that the spinners eat come from deep water and migrate closer to the surface of the water at night when spinners hunt.  A. trigonura is one species of squid the spinners eat, which migrates from a depth of 1640ft to 330ft at night. But no dolphin species eats sea turtles! 

This photo was taken by my friend Orvil Clark, who you can find on Instagram under @ogc77.

The banner photo of a dolphin and sea turtle playing together was taken by dolphin dancer Kathleen Fisher.

The post A Dolphin’s Diet appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Alicia H (31yrs from Boston): Which member of congress knows and cares the most about dolphins? Has any member of congress been swimming with a dolphin? Has any member of congress spoken out against keeping dolphins in captivity?

And somewhat relatedly, does the new president of the united states own any dolphins who are kept in captivity in any of his hotels or other businesses?

It is difficult to find information regarding congressional opinions on dolphin captivity. Currently in the U.S., it is legal to import and breed wild marine mammals for educational and entertainment purposes. Democratic congressmen Jared Huffman and Adam Schiff have criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture for not updating rules addressing the care of captive marine mammals.

However, the most contentious issue over dolphin protection is and has been “dolphin-safe” tuna labels. In the 1950’s, dolphins used a fishing technique called purse-seine, in which they followed dolphins to find schools of tuna, and then cast nets that covered both the tuna school and the dolphins. This practice killed millions of dolphins.

To combat the issue, the U.S. created dolphin safe labels on tuna cans to verify that no dolphins had been killed in the fishing process. This blocked tuna imports from countries such as Mexico, which didn’t meet dolphin-safe tuna standards. In 1995 Congress introduced a bill aimed to reduce the dolphin-safe label requirements, allowing imports from Mexico with the spurious claim that it would create an opportunity for the U.S. to work with other countries to reduce dolphin mortality from fishing worldwide. Opponents of the bill rightly argued that it would undermine the reliability of the tuna-safe label and reverse the progress that had been made in reducing dolphin mortality. Environmental groups were divided in support and opposition of the bill. The bill was ultimately killed by senator Barbara Boxer, a democrat from California. Joseph Biden also opposed the bill, and John Kerry considered proposing an amendment to the bill that would ban tuna catches that caused serious injury to dolphins.

As far as the 45th president of the United States is concerned, I did not find captive dolphins in any of his hotels. However, there are 32 dolphinariums currently in the United States alone. 

“‘Dolphin-Safe’ Tuna Bill Dies at Session’s End.” In CQ Almanac 1996, 52nd ed., 4-25-4-26. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1997. http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/cqal96-1092241.

Christopher P (47 yrs, NYC director of cultural center): Why do dolphins keep returning to the Cove in Japan where so many are slaughtered each year? Is it that none of them escape to tell the others? Or do they seem to have no way to communicate the danger? Or do they forget? Or not see it as necessarily so dangerous?  This question could be generalized to ask what do we know about dolphins’ ability to remember and communicate about dangers of any kind.

Odette L: When dolphins are chased by boats, why don’t they dive deep in the ocean to get away?

Dolphins definitely have shown that they have a phenomenal memory capacity. My previous post mentioned that dolphins have signature whistles which are unique to individuals. Dolphins who have been separated for 20 years have been able to recognize each other’s signature whistles upon being reunited.

The infamous Taiji dolphin drive hunts kill thousands of dolphins each year. One important aspect of the drive hunts is that the dolphins don’t go to the cove of their own accord. They are actively chased into the cove by humans banging metal, causing painful noise underwater and makes it impossible for them to communicate with each other or even ‘see’ each other with echolocation, so they have to stay very close together and they are in a panic. The dolphins to flee in the opposite direction and right into the cove. So why don’t dolphins avoid that area of coastline altogether? It’s hard to tell whether dolphins can remember hunts from years past, but one possible answer is simply that the dolphins return because their food is there. This may be an example of low resilience in dolphin species that are not flexible to change. Dolphins can be very picky eaters. If their only food source is in the waters off Taiji, then that is where they will go to eat.

Dolphins are also surprisingly easy to trap. Remember that dolphins are deeply communal animals. Thomas White cites the research of Ken Norris to explain that an individual dolphin would not make a choice to escape unless the whole pod could escape as a whole–that’s how socially involved dolphin pods are. It may be more difficult than we think for individual dolphins to escape to tell the tragic tale of the Taiji hunt.

Dolphins cannot necessarily evade boats. While dolphins are fantastic freedivers (able to hold their breath for up to 8 or 10 minutes), a 3-minute breath-hold is their average comfort zone. And boats can easily wait out for 10 minutes until dolphins have to inevitably return to the surface to breathe. Boats are also faster than dolphins, and being chased tires dolphins out, reducing their capacity to dive and hold their breath for long periods of time and increasing the frequency at which they need to breathe. Furthermore, the noise of the boats interferes with the dolphin’s communication so they have to swim closer together to keep track of each other, and we already know that dolphins rely on sticking together in dangerous situations such as shark attacks or the Taiji hunt.

As depressing as this may be, it’s important not to lose hope! There are ongoing efforts both in the United States and abroad to put an end to the Taiji hunts. In 2015, the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums banned its members from purchasing dolphins that were captured in the Taiji hunts, thanks to pressure from Japanese and international activists. There are various other efforts to get involved in stopping these cruel dolphin hunts.

For Further Thought…

As intelligent as dolphins are, it is easy to expect that they might respond to a dangerous situation in the same ways that we might, or in ways that seem like obvious solutions. However, we must remember that life in the water can present more challenges than we might imagine as land-dwellers. And once again, the social nature of dolphins adds an extra challenge to dangerous encounters that humans don’t always consider in the same way. Imagine that your apartment complex is on fire and you need to escape. Do you wait to leave until only your family has escaped or until you’re sure that everyone else in the building is able to make it out safely also? What if everyone in all the apartments were your close family? For a dolphin, every other pod-mate is like a sibling or a parent or a child: this is what makes for a major difference in how humans and dolphins respond to danger.

And while it is important to understand the vulnerabilities of dolphins, there is a further question that we must ask. We can wonder why dolphins aren’t better at evading our attacks, but we could also wonder why we are attacking them in the first place. My answer to Alicia’s question began to unravel the complexities of human politics as they relate to life in the oceans. Making the best choices for the dolphins can be unclear at times, so it is important to be vigilant about asking ourselves what kind of dangers we are imposing on them, why and what can we do about these human made threats.

The post Dolphins in Danger appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Thais RH: how many dolphins in a typical family unit? do siblings stay together once mom and dad die? whats the prevalence of family reunions?

Unsurprisingly, a typical family unit for dolphins looks different than a typical family unit for humans. A dolphin’s concept of “family” may even extend to the whole pod. Dolphin pods can be as small as a few dolphins or as large as hundreds of dolphins. Pods can be broken into three sub-groups: female and nursery groups, juvenile groups, and male groups (which are often pairs). So in terms of direct offspring, mothers do most of the early caregiving. Dolphin Dance Project is lucky to get to know some mother-baby pairs during the time they spend dancing with dolphins. This video shows a mother spotted dolphin, Notcho, looking after her baby Jalapeño who has not yet developed spots.

Older siblings often babysit younger siblings and other young pod mates while the moms hunt for food or rest. This functions as help for the mom and training for the older sibling to learn how to look after young ones of its own one day. 

Depending on the activity, such as hunting or resting, the pod splits off into pairs or other groupings and comes back together collectively. This is called a fission-fusion society, which is just a term to describe shifting group compositions as animals sleep together and separate for hunting or socializing. So, these returns either to rest or hunt with the pod could be considered a daily family reunion.

Mari (10 yrs old from Illinois) : How,where, when and why do dolphins reproduce? Are dolphins born under water? And, if so, can they breathe when they’re born?

Dolphins can reproduce at any time of the year. However, it’s difficult to view a dolphin giving birth in the wild because the whole pod will protectively surround the mother as she gives birth.  Dolphins are born tail-first underwater so that the last thing to come out is their blowhole. This way, they can’t accidentally breathe underwater while being born. After being born, babies instinctively swim or are pushed to the surface by fellow dolphins in the pod, enabling them to take their first breath. Dolphins are born with whiskers that fall off soon after birth (this is the only time a dolphin has hair in its life).Dolphins have one baby at a time, every 2-4 years or so. Dolphins can give birth to twins, but less than 1% of dolphins have twins.

Ben D (NYC filmmaker): Do Dolphins mate for life? At what age is a Dolphin an adult? How old is the oldest recorded living Dolphin?

Dolphins do not mate for life. Dolphin sexual life is very different from human sexual life. For dolphins, sex is not only reproductive or pleasurable, but is also used for social community bonding within the pod. Dolphins engage in caressing behaviors quite frequently, and can even use echolocation to buzz each other’s genitals from afar.

While male and female dolphins don’t mate for life, male dolphins develop life-long bonds with one fellow male dolphin, creating a best-friend pairing.

Female dolphins reach the age of reproduction around age 9, and male dolphins mature much later, around age 14.  In spotted dolphins, the fused spot pattern (when they have so many spots that their bellies look black) appears in males and females around age 16, which could be considered the moment of adulthood for that species. The oldest dolphin in captivity was 61 year old Nellie, a trained bottlenose dolphin at Marineland Dolphin Adventure. There has not been a lot of field research that has been long enough to get a sense of the true life-expectancy of most wild dolphin species. Dolphins in captivity don’t usually live longer than 25 years, while wild dolphins can live between at least 40-60 years.  Life expectancy also varies by species. The oldest wild spotted dolphins are probably in their 50’s. 

For Further Thought…

These answers show us that dolphins have much deeper social connections than humans do. In our modern world, we humans spend a lot of time separated from our families. Imagine what it would be like to not only live with your family your whole life, but to also live, hunt, and play with several other friends for your entire lifetime. Imagine how your world would be different if the line between family and friends was blurred.

This scenario becomes even more dynamic when we consider how physical dolphin relationships are. Sex plays a vital role in the maintenance of a dolphin’s society. Dr. Kenneth Norris, marine mammal biologist, described sex as being a “social glue” for dolphin pods, strengthening their relationships and binding them as a community.

What do these realizations about this fundamental aspect of a dolphin’s life tell us? As rich and meaningful as human relationships are, we may not even be able to fathom how much more meaningful dolphin relationships are. Which means that when dolphins get separated from their pods due to being hunted and killed or captured to be put in a hotel, or other anthropogenic causes such as getting caught in fishing line, we may similarly not be able to fathom how deep of an emotional wound we are inflicting on these animals. And even further, we may not yet be capable of measuring how that emotional suffering affects a dolphin’s physical health.

The post Deep Bonds appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Shana B: How closely related are dolphins and sharks?

Allyn T: What are dolphins evolved from?  Also, what did they evolve to make use of in the environment and ecosystem?

Dolphins are about as related to sharks as humans are, in the sense that all life began in the ocean. Bony fish used to roam the seas, until about 420 million years ago, when cartilaginous fish (such as sharks and rays) evolved into a new class. Around 395 million years ago, the first vertebrates ventured onto land. Some of these vertebrates eventually found their way back into the sea until finally the genus to which bottlenose dolphins belong, Tursiops, emerged 5 million years ago. 

Dolphins come from the same evolutionary line as giraffes, hippopotamuses, horses, camels, and bison. Today their closest terrestrial relatives are cows! Cetaceans (aquatic mammals including dolphins, whales, and porpoises) evolved from land-dwelling mammals that lived between 65 and 95 million years ago. The Pakicetus is the animal considered to be the ancestor of the cetacean line. These hairy land animals did most of their hunting for food in the ocean. Slowly the Pakicetus spent more and more of its time in the ocean, until all of its time was spent in the ocean. Their bodies evolved in response to the different environmental demands of an aquatic life. Their nostrils moved to the top of their heads for easier breathing at the water’s surface. Hair was no longer necessary for staying warm underwater, and hairless skin became more hydrodynamic. In order to stay warm, cetaceans developed a layer of blubber which provides insulation. Echolocation was first found in Squalodon, the first toothed whale, 30 million years ago. Echolocation is useful underwater because sound travels faster underwater and vision is not the most accurate mechanism for getting a spatial sense of one’s environment underwater. The modern form of echolocation developed around 20 million years ago.  Cetaceans also evolved to be conscious breathers, meaning that unlike humans, they must control when they breathe. Since they have to remember to breathe, dolphins also evolved to sleep with only half of their brain at a time, which gave them the added benefit of constant vigilance against predators.

To recap, sharks came on the scene about 419,800,000 years before humans did. Bottlenose dolphins came along approximately 395 million years after the first sharks (about 5 million years ago). And modern humans only came on the along around 100 thousand years ago!

Shana B: Do they (dolphins and sharks) ever interact with each other? is there a record of friendship between the two?

Sharks are a dolphin’s primary predator, aside from humans. Along with dealing with full attacks by larger sharks, dolphins also have to put up with attacks from a smaller shark species. Cookie-cutter sharks frequently take bite-size chunks out of dolphin flesh, leaving their victims to swim along with an open wound. But dolphins and sharks are incapable of peacefully coexisting. There are many species of sharks, and not all are as dangerous as Tiger sharks or Great Whites. At Rangiroa Atoll, dolphins coexist with various species of reef sharks. In fact, when dolphins work together, they can have a pretty aggressive and successful defense against sharks. Which leads me to the next question!

Ben D (NYC director, cinematographer, choreographer, 3D specialist): How can Dolphin empathy for humans be measured?

Empathy can be a hard thing to define and measure in any species, even in humans! But there is some reason to believe that dolphins are capable of understanding when a human is in danger and making the choice to help. Dolphins have found their might in numbers, and are great at teaming up with each other to chase off pesky sharks. And sometimes, they even chase sharks away from humans. This video is by conservation filmmaker Hardy Jones, who is an advisor to Dolphin Dance Project.

There are numerous other stories of dolphins saving humans from drowning or otherwise helping people in danger. 

For Further Thought…

It’s impossible to overemphasize the complexity of each of these interspecies relationships. To make a generalized blanket statement about dolphins having good or peaceful relationships with one species, and a bad or aggressive relationship with another species, would be to oversimplify the workings of the natural world. Equally puzzling is the question of how to define dolphin-human relationships. Most of us don’t eat dolphins, yet we are still responsible for too many dolphin deaths. Sometimes we harm dolphins in ways of which we aren’t even aware, such as the tuna or plastic we use. Our world is interconnected, which often means that the ways we affect the ocean and its inhabitants and the ways they affect us can be more complicated than what appears on the water’s surface.

Sometimes things are not what they seem, and our assumptions about how animals work can lead us astray. Human-shark encounters have a notoriously bad reputation, and usually we categorize the sharks as the villains. But relationships are complicated, and a lot of the time, sharks can play nice. This video is from my previous internship with I Am Water Ocean Conservation. It shows me peacefully swimming with blacktip reef sharks in Mozambique, South Africa.

The post Shark! appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Roman S.: To what extent have scientists deciphered dolphins’ language?

When humans think of language, we most often think of vocalization. However, body language and posturing also play a role in the messages dolphins send to each other. In his book, In Defense of Dolphins, Thomas White explains, “Ken Norris has noted that dolphins always make body movements when they generate sounds. He hypothesized that these movements are ‘packets of information’ which are part of dolphin communication…wild dolphins combine both acoustic and non-acoustic means to constitute a ‘sensory integration system’ that communicates vital information throughout a school” (144). Dolphins also position themselves so that the coloration of their skin patterns send specific messages. A rotating flash of white underbelly can be a powerful signal from afar. Certain actions such as tail slapping are known to be aggressive behavior. Dolphins have even been found using their body language to mimic sharks. The Dolphin Communication Project has developed a comprehensive catalogue of dolphin postural signals. Chisa and Ben think of Dolphin Dance Project dancers’ interactions with dolphins as artistic research into the possibility of communicating with dolphins through body language.

Research has also been done on dolphin vocal communication. Denise Herzing and Kathleen Dudzinski have done extensive research in this field, but there is still a lot to be learned about the complex system of dolphin vocal communication. While humans have 1 pair of vocal cords, dolphins have 4 pairs (called monkey lips), so their range of vocalization is much greater than ours and they can make multiple sounds at once. Dolphins can also interpret sound at a faster pace than humans can. Sometimes dolphins make sounds that aren’t even audible to the human ear. All of these factors make it incredibly difficult to study dolphin communication. However, scientists have identified unique signature whistles that every individual dolphin has. Signature whistles function similarly to human names but are also used as a greeting. There is speculation that signature whistles may possibly include information about how the individual dolphin is doing physically or emotionally.

Example of a Signature Whistle

Eleanor D. (6 year-old from Wisconsin): How does a dolphin get help when it gets hurt?

Signature whistles may be a primary way for dolphins to get help when they are hurt! Mothers and babies send their signature whistles to each other to keep track of each other and can probably signal when in distress. But most often, teamwork is how dolphins stay healthy and safe. Dolphins are very rarely found swimming by themselves. Most of the time, dolphins in a pod stick together, and dolphins are so socially oriented that they care for each other as if they were all family. Even when not swimming as a group, dolphins are often found in pairs, and they almost always have a friend to help them if they get in trouble.

There are also lots of stories of dolphins approaching humans for help when they are caught by a fishing hook, line, or net. Perhaps the dolphins even understand that these materials belong to humans, which is why they seek us out for removal of these objects. This video shows a dolphin seeking help from divers in Hawai‘i.

Ben D. (NYC director, cinematographer, choreographer, 3D specialist): Can dolphins communicate telepathically?

Dolphin telepathy is as yet undocumented! However, dolphins have been found to eavesdrop on each other’s echolocating. In Defense of Dolphins quotes brain specialist Harry Jerison on this topic. “Intercepted echolocation data could generate objects that are experienced in more nearly the same way by different individuals than ever occurs in communal human experiences when we are passive observers of the same external environment. Since the data are in the auditory domain the ‘objects’ that they generate would be as real as human seen-objects rather than heard-objects that are so difficult for us to imagine. They could be vivid natural objects in a dolphin’s world” (178). Thomas White explains Jerison’s writing further, noting that “There’s nothing analogous to this experience in humans. The closest thing that Jerison imagines is if we could share neural data in a way that would let us see what something looked like through someone else’s eyes” (178). So, not exactly telepathy, but still pretty amazing if you ask me!

For Further Thought…

As these answers show, the sonic world is critical for dolphin communication. This is important to keep in mind when discussing the effects of noise pollution in the underwater world. Excessive noise from boats can be at best a disturbing nuisance, and at worst a life-threatening communication barrier to dolphins in the wild.

It’s important to remember that in thinking about dolphin “language,” we have to expand our human conception of what “language” is, so that we can consider all the possibilities that are available to dolphins in the ways that they communicate. Perhaps considering the intricacies of body language may be helpful. Dolphin Dance Project works to build a physical vocabulary to interact with and potentially communicate with dolphins.

The post Deciphering Dolphin Dialects appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Multiple views splash across many screens simultaneously, giving a sense of the disorientation of being underwater. Human and dolphin dancers dive and swirl with such synchrony and harmony, it becomes difficult to tell them apart. In the final portraits of the dolphins’ faces, it is hard not to see as much individuality, emotion and personality as in a human face. As they disappear one by one, the answer to the question “Will you miss me when I’m gone?” is clear.

Fortunately, the dolphins with whom we work are not in danger of extinction, although they are threatened directly and indirectly by human activities. Many other species, including the Hector and Vaquita dolphins, are close to extinction. Their ocean homes are at risk, getting warmer and more acidic, filling up with plastic and other pollutants, becoming depleted of fish and other marine life – this is a threat to all species on the planet, including our own.

The new year traditionally begins with the ball dropping in Times Square. This year, we can imagine charismatic dolphin faces appearing across the bright-as-day billboards. How might that change our resolutions? The more we cherish our deep and timeless connection to the ocean and to the other creatures with whom we share the planet, the more committed we will be to discovering and doing whatever is required to make sure that their faces do not disappear.

The post Will you miss me when I’m gone? appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Jalapeño and her mom, Notcho, are part of a group of Atlantic Spotted dolphins who have been instrumental to the development of my choreographic approach. Although this pod lives far from shore, they initiated a relationship with a few scientists and naturalists more than 30 years ago; and humans and dolphins continue to deepen this relationship today. I have returned for yearly rehearsals with these dolphins, who first inspired the initiation of the Dolphin Dance Project. As you see in the video, both humans and dolphins continue to learn  about how we can dance together.

The triple loop you see in the video is new for Jalapeño this year … it is also rather new for me. You haven’t seen such sustained interactions before partly because of the breath hold training that was required for me to achieve them. Jalapeño, on the other hand, has had to develop the coordination for and interest in sustaining an interaction with a human. Doing three loops together is an example of how, through years of observing each other and working together, we are developing a movement ‘‘language” that humans and dolphins can share to express our mutual interest in playing and making dance together.

Doing multiple loops with humans is clearly not a stereotyped reaction; not all dolphins engage us in this way, even when we are dancing and playing together. Jalapeño had to learn how to do this … most likely from following along with her mother the previous year. This is consistent with the scientific research of Richard Connor and others that have reported on wild dolphins learning specialized behaviors from their mothers. I wonder what new skills Jalapeño will have learned next year?

Jalapeño’s mother, Notcho, was a youngster, about 4 years old – and with just a few spots – when she first met humans in the 1970s. Decades later, and now a mature mother with many, many spots, she brings her daughter to meet her human friends. It was a great privilege to be introduced to Jalapeño last year… incredibly heartwarming to see her growing up this year … and a joy to imagine how things may progress in the future.

Among the first humans Notcho met was Hardy Jones. A journalist and film-maker so dedicated to cetaceans he is known as ‘the Dolphin Defender’. We are very fortunate to have Hardy as a new advisor to our project. You can read more about Hardy’s discovery of Notcho’s pod – and much more about protecting dolphins – in his new book, “The Voice of the Dolphins”. (We recommend it.)

We endorse the work of Hardy Jones’ BlueVoice and other organizations that endeavor to protect dolphins and whales. Families like Notcho and Jalapeno’s are ripped apart when dolphins are hunted, killed as bycatch in fishing gear, or captured for aquariums. We hope that the attention our films bring to these amazing creatures inspires respect and protection for all wild dolphins and their habitats. To learn more about the threats that dolphins face and how to mitigate them, please visit our Protecting Dolphins page.

Thank you for your support of the Dolphin Dance Project.

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If the video does not play smoothly, please watch on Youtube

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Scratchy  is part of a very special pod of Atlantic Spotted dolphins that first approached some human divers more than 30 years ago.  Since then the relationship has deepened, nurtured by a few dedicated human researchers and the voluntary interest of at least three generations of wild dolphins.

Scratchy is a very young member of this special pod.  We know this because he is just beginning to have spots, which start to appear around 4 years. This is also the age when dolphins begin to explore their world independently of their mothers or baby sitters (developmentally comparable to a 6 or 8 year old human). He may have just recently stopped nursing and he is 8 or more years from being a sexually mature adult. Scratchy is a young kid – and as he has often shown us – a very playful one.  He is the one who often pushes his way between Chisa and another dolphin when they are making underwater loops. He has a mischievous look in his big brown eyes.

Atlantic Spotted dolphins can often be recognized by distinctive patterns of their spots, which increase in density as they age.  Sometimes, accumulated nicks and bite marks on fins and flukes can help to distinguish individuals as well.  With new spots appearing all the time, youngsters like Scratchy can be hard to identify by physical markings.  So far, he has a freckle on his left chin (rostrum), five recognizable spots in a little constellation over his left flipper, and a characteristic dark steak of grey on the left side of his neck. But it is never hard to recognize his personality.

Scratchy’s personality has also given him more than a young dolphin’s share of scratches around his head.  This mischievous youngster doesn’t hesitate to jump into a rumble with older males. He doesn’t hesitate to get close to humans, either – dancer or camera person, alike.

As you can see in the video clip, Scratchy even makes attempts to ‘talk’ to us – making sounds that seem to be meant for us to hear and understand.  This is quite a low sound for dolphins.  There is no mistaking his gestures (both physical and vocal) that he wanted us to put down the camera and give him more attention.

We’ve seen Scratchy make his way from one person to another as we float at the surface, pausing in front of each person as if to make make sure he met every single human.

We often encounter Scratchy with Itchy, a young female who, although she has almost no scratches, also likes to come very close to the human dancers. Gliding past us side by side, they are often in gentle physical contact. Touch is clearly an expression of affection between dolphins, and Itchy and Scratchy demonstrate their fondness for each other and their taste for similar adventures.  We believe they were already inseparable a year ago when they had no spots at all …

Whether Scratchy and Itchy’s behavior is a sign of youthful curiosity and playfulness or over-enthusiastic risk-taking, they certainly demonstrate incredible trust…not only on their part, but on the part of their mothers and/or babysitters.  We know that when groups of youngsters like Itchy and Scratchy are at play, there is always an adult female around…sometimes nearby, sometimes at a slight distance…making sure all the kids are safe. Adults will round up the kids and hurry away (usually when they’ve dallied long enough and need to keep moving towards dinner) …  the fact that the ‘babysitters’ never seemed to intervene when we danced with Itchy and Scratchy says a lot about how much wild dolphins trust us.

Beyond trust, there are sometimes gestures that seem to signal affection or appreciation.  On a recent night, we entered the water to watch Scratchy and other adult members of the pod, fishing for squid, a staple of their diet.  All the dolphins intermix moments of socializing with feeding – and Scratchy, true to form, was one of the more enthusiastic.  Ben, in particular, had a sweet interaction with Scratchy, during which he darted away only to return a moment later to drop a stunned fish in front of his face, as if offering it as a gift.  This is a common behavior between dolphins – but it was exceptional and very touching that he included a human in the pod with the gesture.

Each wild dolphin that chooses to dance with us has a distinct personality.  We know from decades of research that they have an internal life of emotions and thoughts at least as rich as ours.  We see it expressed in the way we dance together. We see it in the way some choose to dance, while others do not.  Dolphins deserve all the rights that we would feel obliged to give to a human community – a right to freely determine how they live without humans imposing burdens on them.  Pollution, hunting and capture, and fishing gear that turns dolphins into ‘bycatch’ impose a terrible cost on dolphins worldwide (see dolphin-dance.org/protect for a review of threats dolphins face).  But dolphins have no legal representation in our human society, no legal standing to defend themselves.  We hope that sharing these dances with a wide audience will raise awareness and understanding that each individual dolphin is precious just like each individual human.

Scratchy (and his babysitters) express such trust in us and so much generosity in sharing their lives (and the occasional fish) with us.  We would like to inspire everyone who watches our dance to recognize that dolphins are people too, and to be considerate, respectful, and generous in return.

We thank Steve Ando and Takaji Ochi for allowing us to use their beautiful photos in our blog!

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