Swimmers: Beware of this ‘loved-up’ and ‘sexually aggressive’ dolphin
Flipper’s getting frisky.
As if Belgium’s human-loving chimpanzee wasn’t bizarre enough: UK officials are cautioning swimmers to steer clear of a horny dolphin named Nick that is acting amorous towards people.
“There is a chance this dolphin could be loved-up and confused,” TV naturalist Chris Packham told the Sun of the “sexually aggressive” bottlenose, which was filmed buddying up to beach-goers in Hayle Harbour, Cornwall, last week.
Nick was first spotted last summer off the Isles of Scilly — the site of Wally the Walrus’ infamous boat-sinking spree last spring — and then later in County Cork, Ireland, Metro reported.
The footage, shot by British Divers Marine Life Rescue and first posted to Facebook, shows the brazen sea beast splashing water at excited swimmers and paddleboarders and performing tricks like an impromptu Sea World dolphin show.
The rescue organization’s area coordinator Dan Jarvis had captured the clip while responding to a report about the interspecies play date.
“We had a call about a dolphin in St Ives Harbour, which turned out to be the new social solitary bottlenose dolphin who has been called Nick,” explained Jarvis. “It later turned up in Hayle Harbour and came in amongst a large group of people, mostly children, who were already in the water and began interacting with them quite boisterously.”
The rescuers ultimately decided to take Nick back out to sea after he started thrashing his tail at the landlubbers while one swimmer reported that he felt “something nudging him from below,” the Sun reported.
“After a little while it became obvious that the dolphin’s behavior was escalating and becoming more erratic, so we were very concerned that someone would get injured,” explained Jarvis of the “Shape of Water”-esque encounter.
Packham attributed Nick’s behavior to the fact that dolphins can get “sexually aggressive.”
“Dolphins play with interesting things in the water, and this can include people,” said the conservationist, adding that Nick likely became disoriented, not unlike a lost human ending “up in the middle of a herd of elephants.”
Katheryn Wise, of the World Animal Protection charity, added that lone dolphins may attempt to “create social bonds” by approaching humans.
“This behavior can be worsened if the dolphin is increasingly habituated to people’s presence,” she lamented. “It is strongly advised to keep a safe distance in the water.”
Dolphins are apparently not the only aquatic critters that have the hots for humans. Last month, a randy study postulated that sea snakes attack people because they are “highly aroused.”