The legend of dolphins and people can be traced back to a long time ago. The close relationship between dolphins and people and the saving behavior of dolphins have long attracted the attention of marine biologists. And study the behavior of dolphins. A dolphin expert was on a voyage when he saw a group of bottlenose dolphins rescue an injured companion who was injured by explosives operating at sea. The dolphins lifted the injured person with their kisses. They took good care of him and formed a circle to prevent him from being hurt again.
Why do dolphins save people? Many scientists are also interested in this problem, but there is no unified view until today. Scientists have the following three main explanations for dolphins saving people.
The virtue of dolphin care comes from the nature of dolphin people. As the basis of this instinct, it is a non conditional swimming reflex. That is, whenever the dolphin's head comes out of the water, it will automatically open the spray hole and complete the breathing action. Dolphins like to push floating objects on the sea. They often like to lift their newborn cubs out of the water, or lift their sick or injured companions. This "caring nature" of dolphins shows the same quirks not only for the same kind, but also for other animals, and even for all kinds of inanimate objects, such as turtle bodies floating in the sea, wood and so on. Therefore, once you encounter a drowning person, you may instinctively push it to the shore as a floating object, so that people can be saved.
Many similarities between dolphins and humans have been talked about for centuries. Dolphins are very smart, because they have a developed brain, and there are many sulcus. The more sulcus, the more developed intelligence. The average brain weight of an adult dolphin is 1.6kg, that of a human is about 1.5kg, and that of an orangutan is less than 0.25kg. In terms of absolute weight, dolphins rank first, but in terms of the ratio of brain weight to body weight, human brain accounts for 2.1% of body weight, dolphins account for 1.17% and orangutans account for only 0.7%. Obviously, dolphins are highly intelligent animals, and their "feat" of saving people is a conscious behavior. Because in most cases, dolphins push people to the shore, not to the sea. Ingrid Wiesel, who has studied marine mammals for 14 years, said there were many reports around the world about dolphins protecting swimmers. When dolphins may feel that humans are in danger, they will immediately take action to protect them. Dolphins sometimes even fight with sharks to protect themselves and their young.
Dolphins are naturally active and good at imitation. Their favorite thing is to play in the water. Therefore, everything they touch has become their toys. Why do dolphins push people to the shore instead of teasing people in the water like toys? This is related to the habits of dolphins. Dolphins like to cruise back and forth in deep and shallow water. If a person falls into the water in a deep water area and happens to meet a group of dolphins who are guerrillas to the shallow water area, they will push the boat along the water, half push and half play with the person to the shallow water area, or push the person who falls into the water to the shore. So why do dolphins protect drowning or swimmers from sharks? Because the shark's "radar" smell is particularly sensitive, if the diver happens to fall in the shark infested waters, the smell emitted by the human body will soon attract sharks. If a group of dolphins happen to be playing with the drowning people at this time, the dolphins will think that the sharks are coming to grab their "toys" and fight them. Dolphins and sharks are natural enemies. Although sharks are the overlord in the ocean, they usually act alone, while dolphins are in groups. Naturally, sharks are driven away.
Like humans, dolphins also have the ability to learn, even slightly better than chimpanzees. They are known as "wise old men" in the sea. They are good friends of mankind.