Zanzíbar Diving with Spanish Dancer Divers – dive resort, scuba school and liveaboard

Diving in Zanzibar with Spanish Dancer Divers

STORIES AND FACTS

Nineteen centuries ago, Plutarch, a Greek moralist and biographer made this statement: "to the dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage". In our own times Barbara Tufty made the comment "he [Dolphins] also exhibits a friendly willingness to cooperate with other earth creatures -- a rare attribute which another animal, Homo Sapiens, has not yet learned to do with any consistency". Apparently there is something quite impressive about Dolphins. Not only now, when we are learning so much more about them, but even in the year 62 AD!

Outside of his striking friendliness, the Dolphin seems to have been blessed with a well-developed sense of humor. Dolphins have been known to silently maneuver behind an unsuspecting pelican and snatch its tail feathers -- usually leaving the bird minus a few. Other pranks include grabbing unsuspecting fish by the tail, pulling them backward a few feet as well as bothering slow turtles by rolling them over and over.

In 1965 Anthropologist Gregory Bateson made the discovery that dolphins live in social groups dominated by a leader. This tie is so strong that dolphins kept in total isolation will suffer ill health and possibly death. It has also been observed that dolphins frequently stroke each other with their flippers, hence, indicating that they require physical contact much like humans. A dolphin's skin is extremely delicate and easily injured by rough surfaces--very similar to human skin.

Do dolphins talk? Maybe. The above, the next two incidents, and the others scattered throughout this paper will probably lead you to the conclusion that they at least communicate with each other.
In 1962 Dr. Dreher and Dr. Evans were aboard the research vessel Sea Quest, 300 miles south of San Diego, studying gray whales. They had strung a number of vertical aluminum poles and microphones inside Scammon's Lagoon, erecting a type of barrier. A short time later five Pacific Bottle-nosed dolphins were spotted about 500 yards from the barrier. After a few minutes of what was labeled conversation, a scout was sent from the group. Microphones picked up his sonar soundings as he closely surveyed the poles. When he returned to the pod an explosion of whistles, chirps and Bronx cheer-like noises were recorded via microphones. After several minutes of conversation the dolphins proceeded through the barrier and into the bay.

A similar occurrence was noted when, in 1962, several Lockheed Aircraft Corporation scientists erected a similar barrier across a channel, this time with stronger microphones. As the dolphins approached clicking noises were heard -- possibly sonar soundings. They gathered into a group in nearby shallow water about 400 feet from the barrier. During this time lots of clicks and squeaky-door sounds were recorded. A scout left the group and examined the barrier. When the dolphin returned he was greeted in the same manner as before. After about four minutes of conversation another scout was sent out. Upon his return he too was greeted with the explosion of whistles. After about two and a half minutes the dolphins merrily clicked through the barrier. Returning into the bay that afternoon, and the next morning leaving the bay, the pod did not send a scout when they came to the barrier.....nor did they even slow down.

SOME RESEARCH

Dr. John C. L., who has provided extensive research on dolphins, performed the following two experiments which I consider well worthy of notice.

Using a mind probe set in the brain, which when stimulated with an electrical current gave the dolphin a rewarding sensation, Dr. John L. set up a switch where Dolphin #6 could reward himself by pushing a lever. "While I was assembling it, I noticed that the dolphin was closely watching what I was doing. Almost before I could finish assembling and placing the rods necessary to push the switch (which was out of the water above the animal), the dolphin started pushing on the rod. By the time the switch was connected to the rest of the apparatus he had learned the proper way to push it." There was no random or apparent accidental contacts before the dolphin learned how. The same thing happened with three different dolphins. They seemed to anticipate the purpose of the switch. Probably from seeing him push it and connecting the push to the reward. Dr. John L. had used this same technique on monkeys and made the statement that it usually took a chimp about 100 random tries before he learned to push the button, and then a few more to learn how to push the button.
Dr. John.L. was attempting to make Dolphin #8 whistle a burst of a given pitch, duration and intensity in order to obtain a reward. The dolphin quickly caught on. Every time he whistled his blowhole would move and a whistle would be emitted. Then Dr. John L. noticed that the dolphin had added a new rule to the game. He was raising the pitch of each subsequent whistle. Suddenly, the blowhole twitched, but no sound. He had passed our hearing range. No sound-- no reward. Dolphin #8 emitted two more supersonic twitches and the third was hearable. From that time on he did not go out of Dr. John L. acoustic range. The Dolphin had determined what his hearing range was and stayed within it.

As far as I know this is the first time that an obvious experiment has been performed on a human by another species -- and put into use afterwards. Dolphin #8 belonged to the species Tursiops truncatus; or commonly called a bottle-nosed dolphin.

SOME MORE STORIES AND FACTS …

It has been suggested that the reason dolphins always seem to be grinning is that they understand our language and are patiently waiting for us to learn theirs. With this thought in mind, I found that languages do exist in several human communities where people communicate by whistling. The most mentioned example was the Mazateco language in Mexico. Could Dolphins learn and speak one of these human whistling languages? Whether this is feasible or not, I don't know, but it might be well worth the effort if it could allow us to meet them halfway!

In one occurrence is mentioned in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Arion, a rich poet and musician had his life threatened by pirates on board his ship. His last will was to sing one last song, and since he must die, he wished to jump overboard, taking his own life. After a very high-pitched, long, whaling song, Arion jumped overboard. But he did not drown. A dolphin carried him about 200 miles to shore. The Greek people say that Arion was not a god and that this is true and happened while Pereander was king (about 60 years BC). This incident was also recorded by historian Herodotos and others.

On the west coast of Africa, bottlenose dolphins even work cooperatively with humans to ensure their food supply. The dolphins herd mullet to the shallows where native fishermen wait with gill nets to trap the fish. The fishermen allow the dolphins to eat their fill, then take the rest. The fishermen apparently can alert the dolphins to feeding time by slapping the water with sticks as a cue for food.
In southern Brazil, bottlenose dolphins have been the initiators of another fishing cooperative. A pod of dolphins alerts the men of Laguna to "feeding time" by stationing themselves offshore in a line. When a dolphin leaves the line, swims seaward, and returns, the men wait close to shore with their nets. When the dolphin reappears, comes to a full stop, and dives just out of net range, the fishermen closest to the dolphin cast their nets, even though the water is murky and they cannot see any fish. The cue given by the dolphins is reliable; few fishermen waste their time casting until instructed to do so by the dolphins' actions. After one or more men fill their nets, others come to take their place. If the dolphins move along the shore, the men will follow. The dolphins seem to take advantage of the confusion which results as the men cast their nets, feeding on their own from the remaining fish. Town records indicate that this partnership has lasted through several generations of both men and dolphins since 1847.
After hearing so much good about dolphins, it's time to hear some of the bad. Right? Since I did want to produce a true picture I tried to look for some negative facts. Would you believe I really couldn't find any!

What if we could communicate with dolphins? What could we learn from them? Is it possible for man and dolphins to work side-by-side as equals? No. Most likely not as equals. Dolphins have no prehensile extremities; hence their intelligence has never gone in the direction of manipulating their environment -- their thoughts have been left to develop inward. Hence their culture would be totally different from ours. But I do think that there is a large possibility that dolphins have an intelligence at least equal to ours even if it is in another direction. If this is true then our future at sea has a most promising outlook!

As we continue in our quest to manipulate our environment, what does science hope to learn from the Dolphin? For one thing, the secret to his sonar would help the navy in sonar development. A dolphin's built-in sonar far surpasses the performance of man-made equipment. He cannot only tell size, shape and texture, but also density. Furthermore, no one has, as of yet, been able to jam their sonar. The dolphin's ability to direction his sonar beam lends a glint of jealously in any scientist eyes.

Sonar isn't the only dolphin secret science is after, not by far. The shape of the dolphin's body and its ability to reach unbelievable speeds (40 knots and up) could help aviation as well as seafaring vessel development. To be able to mimic the dolphin's ability to dive and surface quickly and silently would be highly desirable by any submarine captain. There could be a potential value of an air/sea eye, as well.

We do not yet know how dolphins navigate, they cold use the stars, moon and sun, or they might use methods involving depth (bottom of the sea soundings), currents, water temperature, salinity, plankton, water tastes, etc. At any rate this secret could lend a helping hand to science.

Dolphins have never in all our history been known to attack man -- even when man tries to make him. The dolphin will resist even until his death. This alone leads me to believe that there is something superior in dolphins than in any other creature ......... including man.

C.S. Lewis, in Perelandra (book two of his space trilogy), wrote about a planet where God had created two intelligent species....one that walked on the ground and one that swam in the oceans. What if .......