Dolphins can not only act cute but also fall in love! Why do dolphins like to be close to humans?

Do you believe that there are also "heart-wrenching" love stories between animals and humans? In the blue ocean, there is a group of "highly intelligent players" - they are not only cute, but also know how to fall in love ! Yes, they are dolphins! Don't believe it? Then let's listen to these blushing "human-dolphin love stories" together!

01

Dolphins and humans' love

In the 1960s, physiologist and neuroscientist John Lilly initiated a secret experiment on the dolphin brain, which was funded by NASA and other government agencies at the time.

The specific task of the experiment is to let a human girl, Margaret, teach a newly adult male dolphin, Peter, to speak English.

Margaret Lovatt at the St. Thomas Dolphinarium. Photo: Lilly Estate

At the beginning, Margaret and Peter were just ordinary teachers and students. Margaret would repeat a word over and over again, prompting Peter to imitate it. As long as Peter made a similar sound, she would take out a small fish from the bucket as a reward. Peter was also a good student and quickly learned to use his blowholes to squeeze air to make sounds. In order to help Peter imitate better, Margaret even painted her lips black and white, which was really thoughtful.

teaching

But Peter has a strong personality and often "shows off" to the teacher. He would refuse to repeat a word he got right once, and if Margaret kept urging him, he would wag his tail and flutter his feet, expressing his "unhappiness" with practical actions.

Margaret teaches Peter to say words

In order to overcome this problem, Margaret decided to start living together with Peter. Margaret and Peter live alone together for six days a week. On the seventh day, Peter would return to the seawater pool downstairs to spend time with the two female dolphins in the laboratory.

The Dolphinarium Laboratory on St. Thomas. Image credit: Lilly Estate

Unexpectedly, this trick worked so well that Peter fell in love with Margaret. He started to act like a spoiled brat, not paying attention in class, and wanted to play with Margaret all day. The infatuated Peter would look at himself in the mirror every day and want to hug Margaret whenever he saw her. Margaret recalled: "He (Peter) was very, very interested in my body structure. If I sat here with my legs in the water, he would come over and observe the back of my knee for a long time. He wanted to know how that thing worked, and I was fascinated by it."

The funniest thing is that when Margaret calls, Peter will shout into the phone to express his protest. He is really jealous.

Peter&Margaret

As time went by, Margaret was also moved by Peter's affection. In her eyes, Peter was no longer an ordinary dolphin, but a flesh-and-blood "boyfriend". Margaret admitted that she began to have feelings for him at that time, and she enjoyed their time playing together. She missed him when he was not around...even now she can't call him a "dolphin". "The relationship of having to be together turned into really enjoying being together, wanting to be together, and missing him when he was not around," Margaret recalled.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. Due to various reasons, the experiment was suddenly stopped and Margaret and Peter had to separate. Margaret couldn't afford to raise dolphins. On the eve of their separation, Margaret and Peter spent their last warm night together. Later, Margaret married the photographer of the experimental team and transformed the original dolphin house into a family home. This cross-species love story was also made into a documentary by the BBC, "The Girl Who Talks to Dolphins".

In addition to Margaret, there is also a true love story between a human male and a female dolphin. In 1970 in Florida, a young art student Malcolm received an interesting task: to go to the park to take pictures of dolphins. Who would have thought that this photo shoot would lead him to meet his "true love"!

Who is the protagonist? A female dolphin named Dolly. When they first met, Dolly's focused eyes simply mesmerized Malcolm. This moment completely changed the way Malcolm looked at the ocean.

Young Malcolm Brenner with the female dolphin Dolly, 1970

From then on, he had images of dolphins swimming freely in the deep sea: They gracefully moved through the dark water, explored the world with their unique sound waves, and happily called out to each other: “Hey, I’m here!” “Come see me!” “Come to me!”

This wonderful fate lasted for a full nine months. Later, Malcolm wrote this unforgettable experience into his novel "Wet Goddess", cherishing this unique memory forever.

Oh, some kids may be curious, why do dolphins have such special feelings for humans? Then let's take a look at the "personal profile" of dolphins!

02

Why do dolphins like humans so much?

Because dolphins are one of the smartest animals on earth, with a complex brain structure that has many similarities with the human brain.

Human Brain vs. Dolphin Brain

To judge the intelligence of a species, we first look at the " wrinkle " of the brain. Yes, those wrinkles that look like wrinkles - the more wrinkles there are, the higher the IQ. The brain of a dolphin is not only of astonishing size, but also of such complexity that even orangutans and chimpanzees would be ashamed of themselves!

Here’s a very interesting data comparison: if we calculate the proportion of brain weight to body weight, humans top the list with 2.1% (which is great to brag about), followed by dolphins with 1.7%, and chimpanzees with only 0.7% (sorry, chimpanzees). Although humans are still number one, dolphins can be said to have the “strongest brains” in the animal kingdom!

This smart brain is not for nothing. Studies have found that dolphins have highly developed cerebral cortexes, which are capable of learning, memory, reasoning and emotions . They not only have self-awareness, but also have unique personalities. In some aspects, their performance even surpasses that of primates, and they are rushing towards the level of humans. The most amazing thing is their learning ability - for the same skill, monkeys need to practice hundreds of times to master it, while dolphins only need 20 times to learn it. This learning efficiency is simply amazing!

So next time someone says that dolphins can only act cute, you have to refute them: they are real marine "academic masters" with an IQ so high that even gorillas would be ashamed!

Secondly, dolphins are highly social animals that live in groups and have close emotional bonds with each other . At the same time, dolphins also like to explore unfamiliar creatures and objects, and they are curious about new things. This innate social ability and curiosity make it easier for them to establish connections with humans and develop an interest in and friendly attitude towards humans.

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In 2022, behavioral ecologist Richard Connor and his team conducted a long-term tracking study of more than 200 male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, recording their social relationships. The study found that male dolphins form a multi-level alliance structure, and this complex social network is the largest among non-human species.

Even more amazing is that biologist Joseph Bruck tested the "social memory" of dolphins and found that when dolphins heard the "exclusive ringtone" of old friends (even old friends they hadn't seen for 20 years), they would be as excited as an online friend who received a message from a friend, swimming around looking for the source of the sound. This proves that dolphins can not only remember the "voice ID" of their friends, but also have strong emotional reactions to these sounds.

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Dolphins have a highly developed limbic system (the part that controls emotions and social behavior) in their brains, and studies have shown that they may have empathy similar to that of humans. They can sense the physical condition of humans through sonar, and can even "see through" the human body to detect pregnant women. In 2021, the Speak Dolphin research institute in the United States reconstructed a three-dimensional image of humans through the eyes of dolphins by recording the echolocation signals of dolphins.

dolphin

In 2023, neurobiologist Dr. Sophie Pierce's team at the University of Sydney, Australia, discovered through experiments that dolphins can produce significant behavioral changes in response to human emotions. When humans show joy or excitement, dolphins tend to approach and interact more actively; when they show anxiety or distress, dolphins show relatively cautious or even avoidant behavior. This ability may allow them to have a special emotional connection when interacting with humans, which is why they usually approach pregnant women with caution because they can hear the heartbeats of both people.

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Additionally, dolphins have a natural instinct to protect smaller individuals, especially when they believe a creature is in danger. In April 2014, swimmer Adam Walker did an 8-hour endurance swim between the two main islands of New Zealand, with dolphins accompanying him to protect him from sharks. When a shark began to follow him, a group of dolphins began to circle him and accompanied him for more than an hour, apparently to protect him from the shark.

Image credit: Adam Walker/youtube

Although dolphins are smart and cute, and most of them are very friendly to humans, they are wild animals after all, and have their own nature and temperament. Think about it, an adult dolphin weighs more than 200 kilograms! If one accidentally uses too much force, it is no joke. Therefore, keeping a proper distance is the best way to protect each other.

Author: Ning Xuan

Editor: Dong Xiaoxian

Reviewer: Liu Ying, Li Peiyuan