Wild Dolphins Giving Gifts to Humans Is a Real Thing That Happens
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.
A team of biologists recently published a study examining dozens of fascinating cases of inter-species generosity between dolphin and human, all taking place along the shore of Australia's Tangalooma Island Resort. According to their findings, wild dolphins have been observed bearing gifts, such as dead "eels, tuna, squid, an octopus" to wading humans on 23 separate occasions.
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.
From the blog EarthSky likens this behavior of food sharing to that occasionally seen in our closest feline companions: "Domesticated cats that have a tendency to drop prey items at their owner’s feet. [But] inter-species food sharing in wild animal populations has not been widely documented in the scientific literature."
Although the true biological motivation behind this gift-giving behavior exhibited by the dolphins at Tangalooma haven't been pinpointed, it seems to suggest at least that the animals look upon us as not so different from themselves -- and that just might be the greatest interspecies gift of all.
Source
Researchers found 23 occurences of dolphins giving humans gifts including fins and even an octopus
Fred, the first dolphin recorded giving gifts to a human at the resort
Tinkerbell and Storm, two of the dolphins found to be bringing gifts to human handlers at the resort
The resort is well known for its dolphin encounters, where the wild animals come to the beach.
That's beautiful! I've never seen a dolphin, this story warms the heart :)
Awesome!and yet still fisherman kill them with their nets
Did you know the indigenous population fished in partnership with the local dolphins of our Morton Bay on Stradbroke Island. They would slap their spears on the water and the dolphins would come in rounding up a feed which they would split with the humans on shore pulling them in. It's a little reversed now as they follow the fishing trawlers around for a feed but still get a tourist feed for free on Tangalooma Island. You should come visit us, beautiful part of the world, Brisbane, Australia.
People without hands, or senseless violence.
Lovely story, as your findings on the net are...but there is one thing you should consider, the text is difficult to read and it would be better with the color of the background being the text color as in this comment box...dark grey text and light background <3
"So long and thanks for all the fish!" My kitty thinks I am incompetent too and gifts me with bugs and mice.
Thank you, I didn't know dolphins shared or fished with humanity. Man has always and still wants to under estimate the animal kingdom we share the earth with.
Laynie
what a great story! thanks!
[i agree with Pirjo about the text colour, very harsh on the eyeballs.]
My first reaction is the Dolphins are trying to show the humans how the polution in the water is killing the sea life. I don't think it is gifts it is direct communication and a cry for help! My heart felt this immediatly when I read this article.
I agree with the cry for help....
I think more research needs to be done on this. It's hard to say why the dolphins are giving people fish. We give them food all the time, yet we think it's highly unusual for them to give us food...hmm. -HC
They may be smarter than we think. They may just be telling us that these items are bad and do some thing about it. Did anyone ever test the dead "gifts"?
Not to be a downer or anything but a thought occurred to me. Could the dolphins be showing humans that there is something making some of the sea life die or ill? Is that a possibility? Just a thought...
As Stan Laurel said to Oliver Hardy... "I'm not as dumb as you look" ...Dolphins to us :)
truly amazing!
I think they are amazing animals. And they can teach us humans a lot of things.
Omg they still give such gifts even tho we kill and slaughter them amazing :)
Could it be they are bringing the dead fish to ask for help because the waters are being poisoned and ALL fish are dying??? (And, oddly enough, dolphins still trust us...)
They could've been bringing them these to show how the ocean is being hurt and that they need help,look at all the deaths happening in our oceans ,don't for a second think their acting like their bringing gifts ,there's more to it then that..they are highly intelligent and who knows what thry're sharing with us????
:)
Totally agree with you...
They could've been bringing them these to show how the ocean is being hurt and that they need help,look at all the deaths happening in our oceans ,don't for a second think their acting like their bringing gifts ,there's more to it then that..they are highly intelligent and who knows what thry're sharing with us????
They could've been bringing them these to show how the ocean is being hurt and that they need help,look at all the deaths happening in our oceans ,don't for a second think their acting like their bringing gifts ,there's more to it then that..they are highly intelligent and who knows what thry're sharing with us????
Dolphins are very intelligent. We can learn a lot from them.