Dolphins show care for themselves. They can show affection and surprisingly understand how to give special care to the opposite gender. Dolphins’ affection is not only limited to themselves, as they can express pleasant feelings to humans. Read on to know if dolphins like humans or can be friendly to them.
Are Dolphins Friendly to Humans?
When encountering humans for the first time, Dolphins will maintain their distance. However, they will quickly overcome their shyness and concern if they keep seeing us and associate us with good actions.
They will be open to learning from us and eventually start playing with us. As long as we don’t try to hurt or force them to do things they don’t want, dolphins will almost always respect our space.
Can Dolphins Be Friendly?
Dolphins can be friendly to humans because they have a large brain that allows them to think, show emotion and recognize good. They are one of the few animals that use their brain significantly and will behave well once they know they can get treats for acting nice.
Also read: What Do Dolphins Eat?
Why Are Dolphins So Friendly?
Dolphins find humans intelligent, creating a natural affinity with us to the extent of being friendly. However, dolphins can become too trusting of humans.
They will often approach boats to beg for food, a dangerous behavior that exposes them to vandalism, shark attacks (because they become too tame) and other risks. This is why it is illegal to feed dolphins in most countries.
Can Dolphins Be Aggressive?
When pushed to the wall, threatened, harassed and subjected to poor treatment, dolphins will resist and sometimes fight back with a vengeance. This mammal understands contempt and won’t mind retaliating.
Do Dolphins Protect Humans from Sharks?
There is no real evidence that dolphins will protect us against sharks. Dolphins and sharks are not friends as sharks steal their food, and both occasionally fight.
So when a shark and a dolphin meet, there is likely to be serious aggression. If a human somehow finds themselves in a dolphin-shark fight, they could use the leverage to escape.
Also read: What Animals Eat Dolphins? Main Dolphins Predators
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Dolphins Bite?
Dolphins in the ocean that have never interacted with humans will not bite a human and will rather go their way. Those that humans have fed in captivity can bite people when they are angry, afraid and frustrated. They can also get very angry to the point of biting their handlers if they do not get their food on time after begging.
Are All Dolphins Friendly?
Dolphins are known for being very friendly to us if we treat them well. They love to play with us and learn from us as long as we always respect them and do not threaten them. However, relationships with dolphins should only be explored with the ones in captivity.
Playing with natural wild dolphins in the wild will make them change their behavior and think it is cool to approach every human or boat. Dolphins approaching every boat at sea can lead to them being injured by propellers, exposed to human vandalism and open to shark attacks.
Do Dolphins Attack Humans in the Wild?
Dolphins do not attack humans in the ocean. Those with former positive experiences with humans will often swim around us and try to play or beg for food. Those without any former human experience will mostly mind their business or curiously watch us. Finally, dolphins with negative human experiences (which is very rare) will stay away from us or any kind of boat.
Can You Pet Dolphins?
You can pet a dolphin in captivity. Dolphins are willing learners who will waste no time trying to behave like us. As long as you reward a dolphin for good behavior and frown at its bad behavior, it will be a better friend than the average dog. Even wild dolphins sometimes enjoy swimming with humans in the sea, but you need to let them come to you and not chase them. They should be the ones deciding if they want to interact with us.
Has a Dolphin Ever Attacked a Human?
There have been rare cases of dolphin attacks on humans. Dolphins generally interact well with humans, and there is only a single case in recent times where captive dolphins attacked without provocation. Two dolphins in captivity attacked a 10-year-old girl for a brief moment before releasing her with only minor injuries.
Another major incident was in Sao Paulo in 1994 when the popular Dolphin, Tiao, killed a swimmer and broke the rib of the other after both men tried to restrain him. This attack only happened after Tiao increasingly suffered a long streak of harassment and abuse from multiple people.
Dolphins’ attacks on humans prove that despite being very friendly, the huge mammals are wild animals that can retaliate if harassed.
Are Dolphins Playful?
When taught to be friendly, dolphins will play with humans. Sometimes, they may play with humans because they need to for free treats. In many instances, they enjoy human company and will have fun with us if they are not harassed and abused.
Do Dolphins Like Swimming with Humans?
Some dolphins love swimming with humans, while others do so because they have to get treats. It all depends on the dolphin’s personality. Generally, dolphins tend to like humans and swimming with us when they want to is not unusual.
