Wild Dolphins Observed Giving Gifts to Humans

OK, now we just have to teach them to gift wrap them.

SOURCE

While it's already well-known that dolphins rank among the most intelligent creatures on the planet, new research is suggesting that they just might be one of the most magnanimous too.

In the report, which appeared earlier this month in the journal Anthrozoös, researchers describe the rare gestures as "an established but infrequent part of the culture of the provisioned dolphins at Tangalooma," yet the reasons for the gift-giving remain unclear. The wild dolphins are said to be frequent visitors to the resort and appear to be accustomed to receiving food from beachgoers; it has been speculated that the animals might either be giving in return, or consider humans too inadequate at hunting and in need of a free meal.

reminds me a bit of a story i heard years ago. a guy was on a deep sea fishing boat and noticed a dolphin swimming next to the boat. he tried to reach down to it, but it was too far. so he got a towel, tied a knot in it,
then used it to reach to the dolphin and gave it a little whack with the knotted end. this apparently surprised the
dolphin, and he would swim a bit away from the boat, then come back to get another whack. eventually he swam away and when he didn't come back after a few minutes, the guy thought the dolphin had grown bored and left

fast forward an hour. he noticed now not just one dolphin, but several, approaching the boat. the dolphin had went off and got some friends to join in the fun. so he spent the next 2 hours whacking dolphins with a knotted towel. they loved it.

lol

reply to post by happykat39
Wild dolphins can gift me with some squid anytime!
Can you say "calamari"?
Numma numma!!!

just wait until they start gathering all the trash we put in the water and throwing it up on the beach for us to clean... then maybe it will get people attention.

reply to post by happykat39

Star and flag; thanks for sharing. I've always loved dolphins, and I speculate they have insights into this world of which we are completely unaware. Their brains are bigger than ours, too. Too bad they don't have thumbs and can't make fire. Imagine dolphins gathering around some mysterious light source deep in the oceans, exploring wonders undersea that we haven't dreampt of yet. Dolphins are great, and it's amazing to see that they are returning the gesture of compassion that is gift-giving.

So what about this "Dolphin Rape Cave" thing and "Rape Posses". Are they just rumours?

reply to post by happykat39


Dolphins are seen frequently around here. I always try to get them to come to me when I am swimming at the beach but they stay pretty far away from the shore. Close enough to see and hear but not close enough to touch and they sure have not given me any gifts either. Well one gift, the gift of seeing them swimming and jumping out of the water which is pretty cool.

Yes well... Neanderthals also had a brain bigger than ours... still they came a little short on the race to the bluray.

Star and a flag from me too . I've always thought of dolphins as people , a little funny looking , but people . So far everything that I've seen or read about them keeps confirming my belief .

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by happykat39

 

Wild dolphins can gift me with some squid anytime!
Can you say "calamari"?
Numma numma!!!

There was a restaurant in Chicago, Lou Malnati's, that served baby squid calamari. They were whole squid with the tentacles and all. They looked like deep fired dead spiders but they were the best calamari I ever had.

SnF Nice find.

Anyone ever think about how much of this planet is covered in water and how much is covered in land. Now think about all the additional depths at which creatures live.

Still think this planet was built for people?

Why do humans become rich and powerful? To eat, play, sleep and screw. Dolphins did not need thumbs and technology to assist them in this. Whales can communicate across vast distances with no technology. We needed to invent stuff to do this. And it took a long darn time!

Personally, I think humans are parasites. We get a very small place to live and need a lot of help doing it.

reply to post by happykat39


Absolutely fascinating! (S and F.)

You gotta love dolphins.

If only we could know how smart they really are...

Probably some kind of tit-for-tat kind of thing. Maybe beached dolphins were saved there, or perhaps sick dolphins got treated for an infection, or they just get food and/or a good back scratching from the people that visit there. It is a gift giving gesture, but they wouldn't do it without some percieved benefit.

I remember hearing anecdotal stories about how if dolphins are treated well, they may even drive fish into a fisherman's nets. But if you look at it from a dolphin's perspective, hearding a school of fish is mush easier than catching them. So if a fisherman readily rewards you with more fish from his net than you could catch otherwise, as a dolphin, why would you not help him out?

Dolphins aren't stupid, they're social animals like we are, and have their reasons for doing this.

Originally posted by RhinestoneCowboy
So what about this "Dolphin Rape Cave" thing and "Rape Posses". Are they just rumours?

Er... whatever floats your boat, I guess

@undo: that's an awesome story! Such a brilliant mental picture it paints

Bob the dolphin: "Hey Frank, I think we need to start assisting these bipedal sub-species with their hunt for food. Apparently they're clueless how to feed themselves without destroying the surrounding environment that feeds them. Maybe we need to show them how ?"

Frank the dolphin: "Okay Bob, let's go for it. But let's not get too carried away with helping these morons. Mother gaia is still trying to figure out how to flick those fleas off her back and we don't want to make her job harder than it already is."

Bob the dolphin: "You're right, I forgot about the Humans-Must-Be-Destroyed agenda. Okay, we'll just toss them a couple of squids every now and then to make it look good... otherwise those landlubber idiots won't like us anymore and start picking us off too. At least this will keep us in their good books until the Big MG figures out a way to take them down."

Frank the dolphin: "I'm with ya buddy."

Originally posted by RhinestoneCowboy
So what about this "Dolphin Rape Cave" thing and "Rape Posses". Are they just rumours?

That has always been spoken of as rogue males, so psychopathic dolphin behavior. And also, Military has done programs on dolphins. Think they may have turned out a few broken down psycophathic ones.

I have read nurmerously that dolphins and whales are very sexual, to begin with. But most don't behave as those accounts and don't think that is the norm.

It's just there way of saying 'So long and thanks for all the fish'.lol.

First thing I thought of was a cat bringing dead mice back for it's owners and they did say it felt similar.They did highlight the fact it was significant as the dolphins are wild animals but can anyone claim that cats are truly domesticated.They just let us think that and use us while it suits them !!

Does it suggest that dolphins may see mankind as on a similar standing to themselves.i.e you don't choose to gift food to another creature if you see it's place in your world as much d superior or inferior.It does hint at a level of trust and feeling well disposed to the humans they gave the gifts to.

Then again should we be assigning 'human' sentiments and feelings on them when clearly they're not human.It's hard not to with some particular animals like dogs,apes,whales and dolphins as they seem to possess character,express an intelligence that makes them appear to be highly aware,to show understanding.

Maybe they are more sentient than we credit them to be.

The relationship between man and dolphin may give an insight to how it'll be when we make contact with e.t.

We being a land creature them aquatic we are in a real sense from different worlds or dimensions where we can move between both while they are limited to the water.

Generally we've viewed them as a smarter mammal that can perform tricks and acrobatics,that's friendly and intelligent.

By our own low standards we've,on the whole,not treated dolphins badly like we have whales and sharks or almost every creature thats walked on land.If you put aside tuna nets and the military trying to turn them into living torpedos.

Maybe e.t will allow the more acrobatic of us to live an ok life performing in the circus for them and talking of us as if we had a glimmer of intelligence in a very limited 'human' way

S&F

Dolphins are so smart!


Here is a story and pics of a leopard seal feeding a photographer penguins.

Does anyone remember that website.. back when people used to look at peoples strange private text websites for entertainment... where the woman had written a guide as to how to court a dolphin and get it to have sex with you?

Just on the topic of dolphin rape or whatever, I think its the humans that do it to the dolphins, not the other way round.


Also there is a place somewhere (cant remember) where dolphins help the fisherman by herding fish into nets... Of course its for mutual benefit.. nobody gives gifts without reason to.. some people claim they do, but even if it is just for the 'good' feeling it gives them, gifts are always motivated by self-fulfillment.

My cats used to bring me giant spiders and birds when I was younger I know he meant well..

Dolphins are so intelligent and beautiful, I had the privilege of patting and feeding pink dolphins in Singapore, and they were lovely.

They probably feel they are returning the favor to us