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riversedge

(69,708 posts)
Thu May 21, 2020, 09:32 AM May 2020

Caretakers say dolphins at popular spot miss tourists and keep leaving 'gifts' on shore

I think they miss humans. yes. they do.



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Caretakers say dolphins at popular spot miss tourists and keep leaving 'gifts' on shore

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/498781-caretakers-say-dolphins-at-popular-spot-miss-tourists-and-keep



Dolphins who frequent Australia’s Tin Can Bay, a popular tourist spot, have taken to bringing “gifts” ashore, apparently missing the visitors who would normally be lined up to feed them before the coronavirus pandemic.

The pod of humpback dolphins has brought sponges, barnacle-covered bottles and fragments of coral to Queensland’s Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding in recent weeks, a volunteer told Australia’s 7News.

“Nothing surprises me with dolphins and their behavior anymore,” Barry McGovern, a dolphin expert and PhD student at University of Queensland, told the outlet. “They do everything - they use tools, they have culture, they have something similar to names in signature whistles."

“In all likelihood, they probably don’t miss humans per se," he added. "They probably miss a free meal and the routine."...................



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Caretakers say dolphins at popular spot miss tourists and keep leaving 'gifts' on shore (Original Post) riversedge May 2020 OP
"So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish." Aristus May 2020 #1
My 1st thought when I saw this. /nt sdfernando May 2020 #9
Aw! That's sweet. I am sure that humans miss them too. n/t Laelth May 2020 #2
Or maybe they are just missing free fish lunches and now willing to pay for it, lol Baclava May 2020 #3
That's not surprising, nor are the gifts. MineralMan May 2020 #4
Yes, I once had a cat who would leave a dead gopher on the doormat nearly every morning, Liberty Belle May 2020 #5
Heard the reason cats do that is DeminPennswoods May 2020 #19
We've had cats that did that. calimary May 2020 #25
My crows seem to have a food lookout DeminPennswoods May 2020 #20
Yes. From our pets I'm pretty sure they miss the interaction too. Hortensis May 2020 #22
I have a large bird feeding area in my yard. cwydro May 2020 #23
Crows definitely like peanuts. MineralMan May 2020 #29
No need to leave us gifts FM123 May 2020 #6
It's a shame Disaffected May 2020 #17
That is so beautiful! FM123 May 2020 #26
Yer welcome! Disaffected May 2020 #30
Wow! FM123 May 2020 #31
I didn't either, Disaffected May 2020 #32
"In all likelihood, they probably don't miss humans per se," he added. DesertRat May 2020 #7
My experience with dolphins suggests that they actually enjoy the stimulation of interaction Nitram May 2020 #13
Some people just have to have an audience! Vogon_Glory May 2020 #8
I love how some study dolphin and other species' intelligence for decades, rank dolphins among the hlthe2b May 2020 #10
Good post. Turin_C3PO May 2020 #11
Of course they miss the interaction. BlancheSplanchnik May 2020 #15
Hear! Hear! Laelth May 2020 #16
☺️💙 BlancheSplanchnik May 2020 #28
Henry Beston says it best... StarryNite May 2020 #18
Nice! hlthe2b May 2020 #21
This Meowmee May 2020 #36
Thanks for the fish! Nitram May 2020 #12
Kick dalton99a May 2020 #14
Hey who doesn't love free food? Initech May 2020 #24
The ducks that live in the ponds around the National Mall DeminPennswoods May 2020 #27
Nah, they are waiting for us to die off. The dolphin overlords Ilsa May 2020 #33
Awwww! Rhiannon12866 May 2020 #34
Retweeted! Mahalo rivers! Cha May 2020 #35

MineralMan

(146,189 posts)
4. That's not surprising, nor are the gifts.
Thu May 21, 2020, 09:58 AM
May 2020

Animals seek diversions and put a high value on play. Food is important, too, but interactions between humans and animals are rewarding for both.

We all understand the relationships we have with our pets, if we have pets. But, we often miss noticing relationships with other animals. If you feed birds in your yard, try stopping doing that for a couple of days. You'll soon discover that they know who is bringing out the food, and they'll show up to remind you. For example, if our hummingbird feeder is empty, the hummingbirds will come up and hover at our front window to remind us. Same with other birds.

Crows often leave shiny objects in our yard. Why? I can't say for sure, but they eat in the yard, as well.

So, yes, the dolphins (porpoises) at that location are used to the food they get, but they are also used to and enjoy the interactions with the humans they encounter, and miss that when it is not available.

We're animals, too. It shouldn't be too hard for us to imagine the reasons other animals seek out our company.

Liberty Belle

(9,528 posts)
5. Yes, I once had a cat who would leave a dead gopher on the doormat nearly every morning,
Thu May 21, 2020, 10:07 AM
May 2020

as an offering for us apparently. There must have been a lot of gophers in Idaho, where we were living at the time!

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
19. Heard the reason cats do that is
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:26 PM
May 2020

because they think of their humans as their kittens that need to be fed. No idea if this is true or not.

calimary

(80,693 posts)
25. We've had cats that did that.
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:35 PM
May 2020

They bring their prize home.

My mom killed that in the first cat I had. He proudly brought the dead mouse to the door. She screamed and freaked out, and shoo'd it away.

From then on, he took his prizes next door, where the neighbors appreciated it, and him, and gave him treats and petted him for it. He wouldn't leave them for us anymore. Made me sad.



That woman just didn't get it. Literally as well as figuratively.

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
20. My crows seem to have a food lookout
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:27 PM
May 2020

As soon as it/they see me throw food leftovers, scraps out the door, I hear a "caw, caw, caw" and pretty soon there are a few on the ground finding what I tossed out.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
22. Yes. From our pets I'm pretty sure they miss the interaction too.
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:30 PM
May 2020

Now I'm not comparing a toad with cats or dolphins, exactly. But where our son used to live, when he went out on the back steps to sit after work, a toad would come up and sit with him.
He was able to show his buddy off to us and friends just by going out and sitting while we watched from inside. Given its preferred diet of insects, slugs, etc., he'd never fed the toad, either, and I'm pretty sure that if he'd been attracting insects for it he would have noticed.

 

cwydro

(51,308 posts)
23. I have a large bird feeding area in my yard.
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:33 PM
May 2020

They are forever entertaining.

I have a flock of house finches, tufted titmouses (mice?), cardinals, wrens, chickadees, and the other day a Rose breasted grosbeak came to call.

A wee bit worried that the sudden influx of brown thrashers are scaring off some of the smaller birds. I noticed a difference when they appeared.

Backyard has blue jays and crows; I’d like to attract more crows. Any ideas? I put peanuts out for the jays and squirrels..

FM123

(10,050 posts)
6. No need to leave us gifts
Thu May 21, 2020, 10:24 AM
May 2020

you beautiful creatures are our gifts. This planet would not be the same without you....

Disaffected

(4,503 posts)
17. It's a shame
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:10 PM
May 2020

more people do not realize that.

As Darwin said:

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and ..."

Disaffected

(4,503 posts)
30. Yer welcome!
Thu May 21, 2020, 03:10 PM
May 2020

BTW, the Finnish band Nightwish has an album with such a theme , "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", with an introduction by Richard Dawkins quoting Darwin.

FM123

(10,050 posts)
31. Wow!
Thu May 21, 2020, 03:35 PM
May 2020

I don't know if there is such a thing as "beautiful metal" but that's what it sounds like to me. Thanks again.

DesertRat

(27,995 posts)
7. "In all likelihood, they probably don't miss humans per se," he added.
Thu May 21, 2020, 10:33 AM
May 2020

"They probably miss a free meal and the routine."

Nitram

(22,663 posts)
13. My experience with dolphins suggests that they actually enjoy the stimulation of interaction
Thu May 21, 2020, 11:22 AM
May 2020

with people. Cats and dogs do, too. It's not "just the food." And dolphins actually get bored and refuse to cooperate if a routine goes on too long without variation.

Vogon_Glory

(9,084 posts)
8. Some people just have to have an audience!
Thu May 21, 2020, 10:39 AM
May 2020

And here I am on the high side of sixty realizing that it isn’t just a human thing!

hlthe2b

(101,699 posts)
10. I love how some study dolphin and other species' intelligence for decades, rank dolphins among the
Thu May 21, 2020, 11:05 AM
May 2020

most intelligent, publish numerous studies on their capacity for learning and problem solving, but then, in fear of admitting we underestimate animal intelligence ALWAYS have to conclude they have no emotional iintelligence, but instead are just looking for a "free meal and the routine."

A big F--ck off to that "researcher" and those so desperate to assume all-consuming human superiority. Yeah, it pisses the hell out of me that some are so insecure and blind to the complexity of the world around us.

StarryNite

(9,363 posts)
18. Henry Beston says it best...
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:19 PM
May 2020

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
― Henry Beston

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
27. The ducks that live in the ponds around the National Mall
Thu May 21, 2020, 12:45 PM
May 2020

swim right up to visitors expecting to be fed.

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
33. Nah, they are waiting for us to die off. The dolphin overlords
Thu May 21, 2020, 04:32 PM
May 2020

are ready to take over now. I saw one sneaking around to the back of the barn the other day. They've been walking on land for years, doing sciency stuff in sheds, barns, etc, developing viruses to take us out. I swear, I think one has been watching my Netflix recently.

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