#dolphins

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

I would agree with all of this except the idea that dolphins are "smart enough to be evil."

There's absolutely no evidence to suggest that dolphins have any sort of capacity to understand something like morality or "good and evil" actions.

Dolphins have a mythology surrounding them that originated in the 80's from people like John Liley, a man who made ridiculous claims about dolphin intelligence to get funding for research where he happily killed dolphins, gave them LSD and fried their brains all in the name of "science".

In reality, a lot of what we observe in dolphins can be observed in a lot of other highly social species as well. Included a lot of behaviours that would be deemed "evil" by human standards such as forced copulation and infanticide.

I agree that sharks shouldn't be demonised but the answer to not demonising sharks is not to demonise *another animal* instead. It's to understand that animals separated by millions of years of evolution to us are not going to think like us or experience the world in the same way as us - and that's okay!!! They're not good or bad they're just vibing!

TL;DR Both sharks and dolphins are animals that are just doing what works for them. Even if those behaviours may seem morally abhorrent or "evil" the idea that dolphins are capable of understanding morality is completely unproven and only fuels unnecessary hatred towards them

framing is everything

[spearxwind]

I think it's sad that most people always think of bottlenoses as the "classic dolphin" since its the one that's always used for shows, and always think of dolphins as just straight grey when in reality there's so many varieties with so many different amazing patterns

Look at the common dolphin! They have a gorgeous X pattern and even some dull yellow/gold!!

Hourglass dolphins have gorgeous white streaks

Spinner dolphins have really pretty banding as well, AND they have a really sleek cute silhouette!

The atlantic spotted dolphin!!! Theyre spotted!!!!!!

and the pantropical spotted too!!

Dusky dolphins have a gorgeous airbrush look going on like straight out of a 2000s fantasy illustration

Striped dolphins sure have stripes!! How cool!!

And these I've shown you aren't even all of them at all, there are so many of them:

There's so so so many different types of dolphins people dont know about this isnt even all of them and some are SO gorgeous and underrated because people just dont know they exist so I'm here to fix that

[victusinveritas]

[aestum]

(by Peter Thomas)

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Learning anything about marine mammal training will make you re-evaluate so much of your relationship with your own pets. There is so much force involved in the way we handle domestic animals. Most of it isn’t even intentional, it just stems from impatience. I’m guilty of it myself!

But with the exception of certain veterinary settings where the animal’s health is the immediate priority, why is it so important to us that animals do exactly what we want exactly when we want it? Why do we have to invent all these tools and contraptions to force them to behave?

When a whale swam away from a session, that was that. The trainer just waited for them to decide to come back. If they flat out refused to participate in behaviors, they still got their allotment of fish. Nothing bad happened. Not even when 20-30 people were assembled for a procedure, and the whale chose not to enter the medical pool. No big deal. Their choice and comfort were prioritized over human convenience.

It’s almost shocking to return to domestic animal medicine afterwards and watch owners use shock collars and chokers and whips to control their animals. It’s no wonder that positive reinforcement was pioneered by marine mammal trainers. When you literally can’t force an animal to do what you want, it changes your entire perspective.

I want to see that mindset extended to our domestic animals.

[scipunk]

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

[coconutpalms]

[youre-dreaming-302]

[princessantisocial]

美しくてカラフルなキーホルダー Ｄｏｌｐｈｉｎｓ🐬🎀

[justforfun501]

Max Plath - Dolphins NRL

[mysharona1987]

[70sscifiart]

For Sci-Fi Dolphin Saturday, here's an uncredited cover to MicroComputer magazine, 1983

[shiftythrifting]

Marlborough Savers

[scipunk]

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)