Evidence Puts Dolphins In New Light, As Killers
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: July 06, 1999
Everybody loves dolphins, those playful models of animal wisdom, celebrated for protecting shipwrecked sailors and spending their days frolicking happily in the waves. Movies, television and water shows feature their antics.
Nowadays, thousands of tourists swim with dolphins, captive and wild, with more signing up every day to commune with their animal intelligence. Most recently, a variety of organizations have sprung up that offer tours to places like the Florida Keys, the Azores and New Zealand, where participants can swim with wild dolphins and, brochures proclaim, experience emotional healing and spiritual awakening.
But scientists, following a trail of bloody clues, are discovering that dolphins are far from the happy, peaceful creatures that humans think they know.
Growing evidence shows that the big animals, up to 12 feet long, are killing fellow mammals in droves, wielding their beaks as clubs and slashing away with rows of sharp teeth. Dolphins have been found to bludgeon porpoises to death by the hundreds. Unlike most animal killers, which eat their prey, dolphins seem to have murderous urges unrelated to the need for food.
They have even been observed in recurring acts of infanticide.
Off Scotland, a scientist watched in shock for nearly an hour as an adult dolphin repeatedly picked up a baby in its mouth and smacked it against the water, over and over, until it sank from view.
Off Virginia, researchers found at least nine baby dolphins killed, their ribs broken, their skulls and vertebrae smashed. One small body bore puncture marks matching the pattern of adult dolphin teeth.
''We have such a benign image of dolphins,'' said Dr. Dale J. Dunn, a veterinary pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, who aided the Virginia study. ''So finding evidence of violence is disturbing.''
More widely, scientists and Federal officials worry about dolphins' injuring or even killing humans, especially given the rise in watching, feeding and swimming programs.
''Wildlife can be dangerous,'' said Trevor R. Spradlin, a Federal dolphin expert. ''But people see marine mammals differently, particularly dolphins. There's this misconception that they're friendly, that they're Flipper, that they want to play with people.''
