Dolphins are known for their playful personalities. We love watching them leap into the air and swim alongside boats. Many of us even have swimming with these adorable mammals on our bucket lists. But dolphins aren’t all fun and games. Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures that can be aggressive, cunning, and remarkable, which explains why our NFL team is named after them!
Dolphins love to play games—sometimes at the expense of other animals. When it comes to game playing, dolphins are masters at having fun. In many instances, dolphins have been observed tossing fish or turtles to each other for sport. On an episode of BBC’s and PBS’s “Spy in the Wild,” a pod of dolphins is caught snatching a lone puffer fish and playing catch with it. The dolphins are careful not to bite the fish too hard, as they know the puffer fish are poisonous. But these cunning mammals also know that when they consume small amounts of puffer-fish poison, it acts as a narcotic, relaxing the dolphins and taking the game—and the dolphins—to new heights.
Male dolphins form gangs. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences found that young male dolphins form close bands of two to three dolphins to find females to mate with. These bands also work together to defend against other dolphins looking to take the females. In instances where backup is necessary, these small bands are linked to a larger network of male dolphins that serve as allies. These male gangs can form a network of up to 50 dolphins.
Dolphins are naval assets. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, dolphins have an entire area of their brain dedicated to echolocation, meaning they can “see” with sonar, helping them navigate and hunt in deep and murky water. Considered one of the most sophisticated sonar systems known to nature, their echolocation skills have made bottlenose dolphins a naval asset. Since 1959, dolphins have been an important part of the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, helping to identify and guard against mines and other underwater threats.
Dolphins can stay awake for two weeks straight. Imagine going 14 days straight with no sleep and maintaining your health and mental acuity. Sounds completely impossible, right? For dolphins, it’s not a problem. The two halves of a dolphin’s brain can sleep in shifts so that dolphins are constantly half awake. This uncanny ability to literally sleep with one eye open helps dolphins guard against predators.
Dolphins are deep thinkers. Dolphin brains contain spindle neurons, which are associated with advanced abilities such as problem-solving, recognition, reasoning, communication, and even adapting to change. The presence of these neurons suggests that dolphins are actually deep thinkers. Many years ago, at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, a dolphin named Kelly astounded trainers with her cunning behavior. One day, when a gull flew into her pool, Kelly caught the gull and handed it over to her trainers, who rewarded her with lots of fish. Kelly quickly learned from this experience. The next time she was fed, she hid one of the fish at the bottom of her pool and later used it to lure more gulls to her pool. Then she would catch the birds and hand them over to her trainers, reaping the rewards of even more fish.