They even like to play with people, which may be why people enjoy dolphins so much. Dolphins learn human games quickly, and they also make up their own games and teach them to people. They leap and somersault out of the water, and they body surf through the waves alongside human surfers—just for the fun of it!
The science makes one fact undeniably clear: wild dolphins of some species are noted for seeking out social encounters with humans. The phenomenon of lone sociable dolphins – for whom human contact appears to substitute for the company of their own kind – is documented extensively in the scientific literature.
There are now many positive stories of the good relationships between dolphins and humans, including the way this almost totally non-aggressive creature not only likes interacting with humans but sometimes saves them.
Dolphins' Internal Structure
Dolphins are not only known for being exceptionally clever, but they also possess distinct features like highly developed social skills and self-awareness, which propel their playful nature. Dolphins, like humans, require social structure for communication, breeding, and protection.
When they want to. When they feel safe and free to escape. In the wild, dolphins engage in considerable touching behavior. However, it would be unwise and potentially dangerous to assume that any dolphin you encounter wants to be petted.
DO NOT TOUCH the dolphins. If the dolphins want physical contact with people, they will initiate it. If you try to touch one dolphin, then all the dolphins invariably leave the area. Not only does this adversely affect dolphin behavior but it irritates the other people with your group since everyone loses on the swim.
Dolphins are very tactile and social. They show affection for each other by rubbing each other with their pectoral fins. When actual mating occurs, it is completed very quickly, with the two dolphins swimming belly-to-belly during intercourse.
Unlike many other animals, dolphins do not mate purely for procreation. Rather, these highly social and intelligent animals have sex for pleasure as well. Further, this means they can have sex throughout the year, rather than being limited to a mating season.
While many dolphins are often friendly, outgoing, curious, or passive, they have been known to attack humans and other marine mammals when they feel threatened or are highly stressed due to unpleasant situations and circumstances.
Sharks are solitary predators, whereas dolphins travel in groups called pods. Whenever a member of the group is in danger from a shark, the rest of the pod rushes in to defend their buddy. Dolphins have even been known to protect humans in danger of sharks.
In reality, dolphins have saved humans on many occasions. In two (sort of) similar incidents, one in 2004 and one in 2007, pods of dolphins circled imperiled surfers for over thirty minutes in order to ward off aggressive great white sharks.
Humans and dolphins do have some romantic history
In fact, seven per cent of zoophiles (humans sexually attracted to animals) named dolphins as their preferred choice of mate. Some studies have also found evidence male dolphins are sexually attracted to women as they give off similar pheromones to female dolphins.
It is not known exactly why this is, but there appears to be an innate affinity. Many studies have found that when a dolphin cannot find friends of its own species, it often turns to humans for companionship instead. Dolphins are also known to follow along with fishing boats and those who are snorkeling.
Never touch or pet dolphins, even if they come close enough to touch. Use binoculars to watch dolphins from a safe distance in their natural habitat instead.
This study shows evidence that bottlenose dolphins are able to respond to individual sound cues produced by humans, even when sounds are emitted in the air. This evidence contributes to our knowledge of the cognitive capacities of this species and the extension of its hearing capabilities.
Dolphins and humans can communicate to a limited degree. Dolphins are capable of learning skills based on human instruction and expressing certain desires. Any dolphin trainer will tell you that dolphins and humans can indeed communicate in a limited in fashion.
Based on current metrics for intelligence, dolphins are one of the most intelligent animals in the world. While intelligence is difficult to quantify in any organism, many studies suggest that dolphins are second only to us humans in smarts.
The bottlenose dolphin is the most well-known specie of all. Their name comes, obviously, from the shape of their nose that resembles a bottle and makes them attractive because they seem to be always smiling. They are commonly found near humans because this specie is very sociable and friendly to humans.
“Dolphins are very tactile animals, and males and females will pet and rub their close associates frequently using their pectoral fins and other body parts as a way to bond and/or show affection,” Gibson says.
Researchers believe that dolphins, like humans, engage in sexual activities for pleasure and social bonding. This might explain why dolphins hump both their own species and humans.
Captive dolphins do not swim with people, “kiss” people or tow people through the water because they like to — they do it because they have to. This can lead to stress, illness, and aggression towards each other and humans.
As a child, you may remember squealing and screaming when you were excited about something. It turns out that humans aren't the only species that gets noisy when they're happy: New research shows that whales and dolphins “squeal with delight” to express glee, too.
Dolphins have a remarkable long-term memory and can remember specific individuals, sounds, and even tasks they learned in the past. In fact, studies have shown that dolphins can remember things for up to 20 years or more, which is longer than most other animals.
Dolphins can also use echolocation kind of like a medical scanner. They can detect hard surfaces that exist inside other animals. A dolphin echolocating on a human could likely see your skeleton, could likely see your lungs. Dolphins can, through echolocation, detect the swim bladders inside the fish that they hunt.
Give the dolphins space, and don't pet them
They also have very delicate skin that can be easily scratched by our fingernails or jewelry, so you could end up inadvertently hurting them. If you see a pod of dolphins, keep your distance, let them come to you, and resist the urge to pet them (as hard as it may be!)