Your profound words about the suffering of intelligent animals has led me to reevaluate my own life. I have since dedicated myself to a new cause — the extensive research of manatees.

Thank you,

Dan

…get ‘er done.

Lori Marino, PhD, you may want to lift your gaze from the sterile confines of the analytical world of academia and experience for yourself a connection to the beauty in our natural world. It Was Allegory and a rather beautiful reflection an actual real persons ‘feelings’ and personal connections to these wonderful creatures that we live with daily, in our beautiful little barrier island home town. It Wasn’t A Science Term Paper, everyone gets that… but you.

You may want to steer clear of the library, I hear they have entire sections devoted to all forms of creative writing…It’s Terrifying!

I’m pretty sure the author is a fan of Dolphins…you should try to relax.

My intention with the piece was not so much to promulgate myths about dolphin healing powers (although I must mention that I have witnessed, on more than one occasion, dolphins in the wild interacting with humans on what can only be described as a ‘spiritual’ level, and even changing the way these humans regarded their own lives… I should also qualify this by saying that the humans I spend much of my time with cannot claim a much higher level of intelligence than most upper-level primates), and I certainly do not condone holding these creatures captive for any reason whatsoever. My aim, instead, was to hint at the differences between two sapient species who took divergent paths, and the cultures they developed along the way.

It is only as of recently, since the invention of the telegraph, that humans can boast a method of communication as advanced as the dolphin’s, who have perfected theirs over the ages. Over the past century, people have developed a sense of connectivity to one another that we never possessed before, but we are still a work in progress, constantly mining untapped potential within ourselves. While we cannot know the extent to which dolphins, or any other animals, truly perceive and interact with the energies around them, I am sure Dr. Marino would agree with me on this much – there is still very much we can learn from them.

First, Reiter seems to have acquired knowledge of dolphin neuroanatomy that even seasoned scientists do not possess at this time. He states that the part of the dolphin brain that mediates anxiety is not as advanced as in humans. No one knows where that function lies in the dolphin brain. And so, neither does Reiter. Moreover, he claims that the dolphin frontal lobe is the same size as in humans. He is incorrect on two counts. First, no one has measured the dolphin frontal lobe. Two, the functional equivalent of the dolphin frontal lobe does not lie behind the forehead. This is because of the very different arrangement of the dolphin brain compared with primates.

Reiter also promotes the notion that dolphins live a carefree life free of worries or predators. Nothing coule be farther from the truth. Dolphins do have natural predators. These are killer whales, sharks and humans and all of these predators account for a high mortality rate in dolphins, and, especially juveniles. If dolphins lived such a benign life they would not need to carry around brains that are larger than ours. It is just indisputable biological sense.

I will not even challenge Reiters more fantastic claims about dolphins and religion. They are not worth responding to.

Why is Reiter’s message concerning? First, he is spreading incorrect information about these animals and the readership has a right to accurate information about them. Second, he is promoting unfounded claims about dolphins that have led to their abuse over time. People have always mythologized dolphins and, as a result, dolphins have been caught and confined for their “healing” abilities. The dolphin assisted therapy industry is responsible for a large portion of dolphin deaths and captures around the world. All of it is because the public is led to believe that dolphins are special beings with mythic abilities such as healing and, in Reiter’s terms, “talk to god”.

I implore the public to reject these fantasies about dolphins. Dolphins are fascinating creatures all on their own. They deserve our respect. And they don’t need the burden of our human projections onto their lives. They have suffered enough for it.