A few other facts I learned:

• Mothers carry their babies for a year before giving birth. The babies stay with the mom for six years until they are independent. They feed the babies by the baby signaling to the mother that they are hungry. They do this by bumping her in the lower belly and she then releases a muscle that releases the mother’s milk. The milk substance is thicker than we would expect because if it were thin it would get lost in the waters, so it is the thickness of cottage cheese.
• Dolphins don’t chew their food. They swallow the fish whole. And they don’t drink the water. The liquids they receive are from the oils of the fish they eat.
• Atlantic spotted dolphins are considered the female energy and are much more engaging. The bottle nose are considered more masculine energy or warriors. They often have more scars from engaging with sharks.
• Dolphins love to ride the bow of the ship to catch the waves, and directly behind the propeller as it is like a Jacuzzi with the bubbles spraying them.
• Many theorists say dolphins have been evolving longer than humans. It is a fact that their brain is larger than our own and there are parts of it we do not know what they use them for. The emotional side or the limbic of the brain is larger. They are considered by some to be the closest to humans in intelligence and by others, if intelligence is broadened to include emotions, they are actually more developed and evolved.

This made me wonder how our perspective to the world and to animals would be radically changed if we considered animals as our teachers, rather than we are the ones who have all the answers.

Caroline with a teachable heart with the dolphins

Photos provided with permission from Atmoji @ WildQuest