A Day With A Tursiops

Nyah. Another day, another... boring day. There is never anything to do around here. Every now and then, Lucas pops up and we start a conversation, but the translator does such a horrible job. Lucas ends up sounding like a two-year old with a limited vocabulary, and I know I do too.

Sometimes, something important happens and they need me to go out and check something out. But that only happens once a week or so. Sometimes I wonder why I even hang around here. I could go any time I wanted to. But then I think to myself, "Darwin, you have all the free food and attention you could ever want". Not to mention, humans are such amazing animals to study. Lucas tells me all about them. I remember when he tried to explain money to me once. I started to wonder why I never got paid. I mean, think about it: you need to find something on the ocean floor? Send out the dolphin. Want to know where something is? Ask the dolphin.

People love to hear the dolphin. Cute and innocent, that's me. But like I said, free food, even if it is already dead, is a rare commodity in nature. And the attention. There's nothing like a good back rub to start your day off right.

But it's so boring. After a while, people have to go about their business, fixing this or setting that course. So I swim through the ducts and find Lucas. And we chat for a while. Then I go around the ship, doing my dolphin thing. Sometimes, if I'm really bored, I'll do a few flips in the largest pool. Or if I'm really, really bored, I'll ask to be let out. If I'm lucky, there's a pod of other dolphins to talk to, or a whale or two. If not, then I'll race the ship and wave ride (1), or go to the surface and porpoise (2) for a while. A few spy-hops (3), tail walks (4), a lobtail or two (5), and then the biggest breach (6) a 600 and someodd pound bottlenose dolphin can do to finish it off. Ta da; sometimes I think I should be in movies, but that would mean I'd be stuck in a tank full time, and that would just suck.

Then I come back in, talk to Lucas for a while. And go to sleep. Well, not entirely. Ever wonder how a dolphin sleeps? We have to breathe voluntarily, you know. So we've adapted. We only rest one half of our brains at a time, and leave one eye open. That way, we're conscious enough to rise to the surface and breathe and we can look out for danger. Neat, huh? A couple of hours later, I wake up and start another day, however boring, aboard the Sea Quest.

Dolphin behaviors:
(1) Riding the waves and current a ship creates to propel itself. Requires less energy and propulsion.
(2) Jumping in and out of the water repeatedly and at a fast pace.
(3) Popping their heads ot of the water and looking around; can also be considered tail walking.
(4) Popping their heads out of the water and propelling themselves backwards through the water.
(5) Smacking their tails on the water to make a loud slapping sound.
(6) Jumping high out of the water and landing on either their side or on their belly.