Dolphins will play with almost anything—balls, feathers, driftwood, seaweed, and even their food when they are full. They also play with other sea animals—turtles, fish, seals, birds, and whales—whether the other animals want to play or not!
In captivity, dolphins often play with artificial objects such as balls, rings, tires, and pipes [9].
Dolphins will play with just about anything they can find. You may have seen pictures of the spotted dolphins playing with sargassum, scarves, sea cucumbers, or even plastic.
Dolphins' Internal Structure
Dolphins are not only known for being exceptionally clever, but they also possess distinct features like highly developed social skills and self-awareness, which propel their playful nature. Dolphins, like humans, require social structure for communication, breeding, and protection.
Dolphins are extremely playful animals and often swim close together, sometimes even touching fins.
Unlike many other animals, dolphins do not mate purely for procreation. Rather, these highly social and intelligent animals have sex for pleasure as well. Further, this means they can have sex throughout the year, rather than being limited to a mating season.
Up until now, scientists have been aware that dolphins possess clitorises (much like all female mammals), but they weren't sure whether they experienced pleasure. Research now confirms that the animals do experience pleasure when having sex, due to their “large” clitorises.
They even like to play with people, which may be why people enjoy dolphins so much. Dolphins learn human games quickly, and they also make up their own games and teach them to people. They leap and somersault out of the water, and they body surf through the waves alongside human surfers—just for the fun of it!
Bored and frustrated by their captivity, cetaceans persistently grind their teeth against the concrete of their tanks, or bite down on metal bars between tanks, breaking their teeth.
As a child, you may remember squealing and screaming when you were excited about something. It turns out that humans aren't the only species that gets noisy when they're happy: New research shows that whales and dolphins “squeal with delight” to express glee, too.
The dolphins responded best when touched on their snout, called the rostrum. Other very sensitive body parts were the melon, or the forehead, and the blowhole. The blowhole is an opening on the top of the head that dolphins use for breathing when they resurface for air.
Most dolphins are opportunistic feeders, which means they eat the fish and other animals sharing their homes. All dolphins eat fish and those living in deep oceans also eat squid and jellyfish.
Play is a very important part of dolphins' lives and they can often be observed playing with seaweed or play fighting with other dolphins. They have even been seen harassing other creatures, like seabirds and turtles.
Dolphin skin is smooth and feels rubbery to the touch. Their skin is smooth because they need to pass cleanly through the water without any drag.
Underwater turns, circle swimming and flips may indicate play to dolphins. They may try to imitate you doing these behaviors. Use your body as a tool to communicate. Remember the streamlined shape of the dolphins.
Never touch or pet dolphins, even if they come close enough to touch. Use binoculars to watch dolphins from a safe distance in their natural habitat instead.
Truly wild dolphins will bite when they are angry, frustrated, or afraid. They are disturbed when people try to swim with them.
Given how social dolphins are, Hawkins said, the animals seek to form and reinforce bonds, often using sexual behavior. For solitary male dolphins isolated from their society, rubbing themselves on objects or people has been observed as attempts to meet that biological need, she said.
It's just the shape of their face. Dolphins may look like they're happy to us, but their “smiles” are illusions. When humans smile, we signal happiness, contentment, and enjoyment to each other. But a dolphin's toothy grin is not an expression of joy – this is simply an anatomical anomaly.
In fact, seven per cent of zoophiles (humans sexually attracted to animals) named dolphins as their preferred choice of mate. Some studies have also found evidence male dolphins are sexually attracted to women as they give off similar pheromones to female dolphins. You can find this story in My Bookmarks.
Dolphins like to have fun. Dolphins are social and playful animals, creating lifelong friendships and living in pods with dozens of dolphins. As part of their social and playful nature, they are known to swim through self-made bubble rings and surf in the waves!
When they want to. When they feel safe and free to escape. In the wild, dolphins engage in considerable touching behavior. However, it would be unwise and potentially dangerous to assume that any dolphin you encounter wants to be petted.
The discovery of spindle cells in the brains of some whale and dolphin species provides good supporting evidence that these species may be capable of experiencing complex emotions such as empathy and indeed that this emotion may provide an important evolutionary advantage for these highly social species.
Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence and guests who sit on the deck anticipating a "hug" from the friendly mammals, often get way more than they bargained for when the dolphins jump on top of them and begin humping.
“Dolphins are very tactile animals, and males and females will pet and rub their close associates frequently using their pectoral fins and other body parts as a way to bond and/or show affection,” Gibson says.