Dolphins: the good, the bad and the ugly
By Sarah Ward
Living Seas Officer
We were tasked to come up with ideas of different “heroes and villains” of the natural world. When it comes to the marine environment, there are a few species that have been “vilified”, mostly by Hollywood - sharks being the obvious example.
Dolphins on the other hand, have been made the heroes, making us think they’re gentle, caring and friendly creatures.
Whilst this isn’t wholly untrue, dolphins also exhibit a number of traits that suggest they're more complex in the “heroes and villains” stakes than they may first appear. Which is true of all creatures, and probably true of most humans we tend to hero worship (or villainise).
Dolphins are known to attack and kill baby dolphins. It is understood that this is because males see new calves as “competition”, so may try and see off the baby, so that the mother is free to make more babies.
And male dolphins are ruthless when it comes to mating. Males can form “gangs”, isolating females from other pods.
You’ve probably seen footage of dolphins playing. However, sometimes it may be that they’re 'playing' with other animals. A well-known example is a group of dolphins using a baby shark as a make-shift volleyball.
To humans, these behaviours may seem shocking, but it’s important to remember that scientific literature suggests these are quite normal, albeit somewhat violent, behaviours. Dolphins don’t have the same concept of consent as humans do.
All this being said, dolphins are absolutely amazing creatures that never fail to excite and interest me and it’s always lovely to hear about dolphin being spotted off the Sussex coast.
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Comments
Interesting blog. Are you / SWT joining in Sea Watch Foundation’s National Whale & Dolphin Week? Running from July 24 – August 1, it is a great way to assess the abundance or otherwise of dolphin and other cetaceans in the Sussex area – and Sussex is poorly represented in the dataset….You can find out more at https://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw/
23 Jun 2021 21:52:00
Did you know dolphins get drunk on pufferfish
07 Nov 2024 16:35:00
QUOTE: “ To humans, these behaviours may seem shocking, but it’s important to remember that scientific literature suggests these are quite normal, albeit somewhat violent, behaviours. Dolphins don’t have the same concept of consent as humans do.”
I disagree. Roughly 99% of humans believe it morally ok to murder and rape non-human animals for meat and dairy. And the things that happens to non-human animals in laboratory experiments (which rarely even get useful scientific data) are significantly more cruel, strange, and torturous than anything observed in the wild.
While it is true that many non-humans in the wild are completely savage and ‘evil’, the exact same is true for humans. Humans, and other forms of life, are just vehicles to spread their genes.
I am not condoning human cruelty to non-human animals. I myself do not engage in that at all. It isn’t even needed for maximum nutrition. I am merely suggesting that the moral agency humans like to believe they have, is nothing more than pro-social instinct. Because evolution made that the most efficient method for survival, for the human species. There is nothing morally unique about humans.
07 Nov 2024 17:45:00
I’m so confuse, I didn’t know that info since then, thought dolphins are good and sharks are bad creature but I was wrong, the tv, movie shows that sharks are bad and commiting bad deeds but they are fooling and misinformed people on what is really happened in the reality, luckily I’ve been read this very informative blog about dolphins.
17 Nov 2024 18:10:00
Do dolphins rape other dolphins
04 Mar 2025 14:38:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
There’s certainly evidence for aggressive sexual behaviour in various dolphin species, however we don’t think there’s any scientific reports that refers to any of these behaviours as ‘rape’.
Surely an interesting Finding..
14 Jun 2025 22:22:00