why hating on dolphins is wrong

I have observed a recent increase of people hating on dolphins, orca and other cetaceans. It’s easy to love baleen whales (mysticetes) as they are the epitome of ‘gentle giants’, feeding mainly on krill and spending their days drifting serenely from one ocean to another.

Odontocetes (toothed whales) are not given the same kindness. Most odontocetes are hunters. They are highly intelligent, and while there are belugas (those silly white pillows), when viewed through the lens of most people, they can be seen as weird and gross. Why protect these horrible creatures? Are they even real or just creepypasta? They’re so scary!

Dolphin haters often compare them to sharks, describing them as ‘sea dogs’ or whatever while portraying dolphins as these evil, malicious entities.

I like sharks too, and while I understand that some dolphin behaviour is shocking, there is a plethora of reasons why we must not demonize them and instead, should focus on supporting them and spreading awareness about threats that they currently face.

1  1.    Dolphins are extremely diverse. You cannot paint all of them with the same brush. ‘Dolphins’ refers to all members of the Delphinidae, or the larger delphinoid superfamily. They differ wildly in appearance, intelligence and social structure. Orcas are matriarchal. Trust me, if any orca male tried to mess with a female orca, they would get what was coming to them.

For reference, when Sea World tried to place Tilikum, a male orca, in the same tank as two females, despite his larger size he was heavily bullied to the point of having wounds all over his body. To clarify, this is because it is not natural for male orca to be in that close proximity to a female, due to the general pod arrangement where males are usually on the periphery, not due to any inherent sadism.

As for the argument that they’re ‘as smart as humans’ or they ‘know what they’re doing’ in reference to the behaviour of bottlenose dolphins, this is simply not true.

Although I acknowledge the intelligence of these animals, I see it as impressive in terms of the potential for future evolution. It’s like being impressed by a caveman discovering fire. Yes, its an achievement, but no way would you compare the intelligence of a modern-day human to a neanderthal.

Basically, yes, they are smart, but the idea that they’re on the same level as humans is just incorrect. There is great evolutionary potential, perhaps in the future (if we stop messing with their environment and food sources) we might see a cetacean with human-like intelligence, but at the moment they’re still in a phase similar to early man. They have begun to use tools, language and have complex social structures, however a lot of their behaviour is not regulated according to morals/principle or anything like that, because they simply haven’t developed it yet.

In fact, if you really want to see dolphins become ‘friendly’ in any capacity, you should advocate even more for their conservation, so that they are given the chance to evolve and form actual civilization (which I do believe is possible).

We measure the intelligence of animals using the encephalization quotient, which is the brain to body mass ratio. Humans come in at 6.0-7.0. Bottlenose dolphins are around 4. Orca are 2.5. The ganges river dolphin is 1.5. For reference, dogs have about 1.7 and cats are 1.0.

Would you view the actions of a dog the same way as a human’s? Chimps are known to be extremely intelligent, but I think that you would acknowledge that there is a difference between a human ripping someone’s skin off and a chimp.

2   2.    They are an extremely important part of the ecosystem.

Picture the scene when you read this headline:

KILLER WHALE KIDNAPS BABY HUMPBACK WHALE!

To reiterate my first point, dolphins are extremely diverse. Orca (aka killer whales) fall under dolphins, and this variation is seen even among orca themselves. Orca diet differs according to region and pod.

For example, the Southern Resident Killer Whale population is currently getting close to being functionally extinct due to dams in Ohio blocking the route of their food, Chinook salmon. Yes, they hunt with that much specificity. In fact, you can tell if an Orca is the offshore ecotype if its teeth are worn down, due to the fact that they eat sharks, which have sandpapery skin on account of their dermal denticles.

So not all orca hunt whales in the first place. The orcas that do hunt them have systems so specialized to hunt whales that they will die if they don’t meet their dietary requirements.

Also, the carcass of the humpback that those whales hunt washes ashore to feed other animals. Brown bears in Alaska, upon waking up from hibernation, are too sleepy to hunt. So they wait at the coast for a carcass to wash up. They likely would be too sluggish and unable to successfully catch prey if not, and would die.

When animals are villainized, it is easy to forget that they are part of a larger ecosystem and do not exist in a vacuum.

If you still don’t ‘like’ bottlenose dolphins and see them as evil, remember that some bottlenose dolphins are prey for orca. If their population declines, orca pods that hunt dolphins will follow suit.

We as humans are so removed from natural food chains that we don’t even account for the complex interlinkage and dynamics in the wild. You just watch discovery channel and go ‘oh evil orca! How could you hurt that poor baby whale’. What about the orca calves? The bears that need food?

3  3.    Humans have committed far worse atrocities on cetaceans than the other way around. Or even cetacean on cetacean violence. Humans have taken babies from families to become our sick entertainment, they have been subjected to forced impregnation among other torturous practices in dolphinariums and they have been hunted just for their bones and blubber.

Do you know why beached whales die? Think about it, they’re mammals, they breathe air. With an ample supply of oxygen and an adequate amount of water poured on them so they don’t dry out, they should be fine right?

They die because they’re crushed to death by their own body weight. 

Since they’re evolved to be completely aquatic, so being on land causes their own body to weigh down on their organs, and they die.

It’s like if you stood on Venus, a planet with 92 times the surface pressure of Earth. Of course, its not that major of a difference, actually makes the pain of cetaceans that come onto land even worse, because it is slow and agonizing.

Keeping all this in mind, think about the fact that in dolphin breeding programs, they are forced to lie down on a platform out of the water so that they can be subjected to the breeder's torment and abuse, forcefully taking samples from males and impregnating females. 

    Japan’s whale hunting industry is in full swing, and by the way, Japanese people don’t even eat whale. The government is trying to convince them to do so though, to generate profit from whaling. Follow seaspiracy on Instagram to know more about the horrors humans have inflicted on not only cetaceans, but the ocean as a whole, and how that affects other humans as well.

By the way, if anyone is thinking about indigenous whale hunting practices, those are entirely different. Colonization has reduced the number of native populations in certain countries to a mere sliver of what they once were. I think its an absolute shame that when we think of an American, our first image is usually some portly white man, rather than a Native American person.

When it comes to things like Alaskan people hunting belugas, it is a regulated practice, they have long history of living in balance with nature and traditional knowledge of sustainability. Furthermore, this is to preserve their culture and not for a profit incentive. Hence, though I love whales and don’t like to hear about humans hunting them in any form, I respect their heritage and do not endorse any sort of interference in the activities of their community.

 I can kind of see why learning about the reality of dolphins can be shocking, especially compared to the popular portrayal as happy creatures who just wanna be part of your symphony (/ref), whereas sharks aren't nearly as sinister as their depictions in movies like Jaws.

However, I’d argue that even that image of them is harmful. It was made to give people this idea that dolphins can ‘understand’ us and even voluntarily interact with us in artificial situations at places like Sea World and Atlantis (Dubai).

The one truth about dolphins that most people know is that they are curious. But this curiosity can actually lead to dangerous situations. Remember that this is a wild animal that you are in the presence of. They see you the way a child sees a puzzle. They might just look at you and move on, or try to experiment and drag you underwater, or slap you with their tail. Again, not out of malice, but curiosity. It is best to maintain a respectful distance, as you would with a lion while on a safari.

They are as smart or smarter than most cats and dogs, but we cannot compare our interactions with dolphins to pets. They are domestic animals that have historically had a mutually beneficial and emotional relationship with humans. Dolphins are from a whole different world.

All in all, villainizing cetaceans doesn’t help anyone. Creating this perception of dolphins in people’s minds only blinds them to the importance and beauty of these creatures. 

They’re not some character in a show you can like or dislike, they are cogs in the delicate and ineffable mechanism of ocean ecosystems, and must be protected. Be it through seemingly innocuous memes or more serious articles, we should be focused on protecting all cetaceans, including dolphins, no matter how weird they may seem.