Dolphins are Bullies: 7 Shocking Reasons Why

We can’t deny just how adorable dolphins are- they are magnificent creatures, and capable of doing great things. 

Their brains are quite evolved, and dolphins are thought by some to be the second-smartest creatures on Earth, right under us humans (yes, even more-so than apes). 

It is believed possible that in the next million years, dolphin brains could evolve to be as intelligent as our human brains! 

Dolphins are quite human-like, excluding their look & environment. They have names for each other, languages, dialects, take care of their old, and some even mourn over the dead! 

But just like the human capacity for evil, dolphins have a huge capacity for evil as well- some could easily argue that the typical dolphin is more aggressive than the typical human. 

We recommend you watch the video version of this, as it contains some fascinating dolphin footage, for example beautiful footage of a dolphin saving a young girl’s phone from falling deep into the Ocean! 

You can watch our video on this subject by clicking HERE now. 

Or, you can download & listen to the audio-only podcast at your convenience anytime by downloading the podcast via the widget above! (: 

The Dolphin Bully: 7 Shocking Facts about Dolphins

While they are adorable and capable of quite good, we can’t deny that there is an evil, vicious side to dolphins. 

Warning: further reading/watching of this content may completely shatter your opinion about the adorable, harmless dolphin. Proceed with caution! 

The Dolphin Kidnapper

To kick things off, dolphins are kidnappers. And it gets worse than that. 

When male dolphins want to mate, some will form an “alliance” of a few dolphins. They will then select one female dolphin to kidnap from another “pod,” which is a group of dolphins. 

The male dolphins will then attack and separate her from the group, and take her away to where they can be away with her alone. 

The dolphins then take turns mating with the female dolphin and only let her leave after they’ve finished. 

If the female dolphin resists, they can bite and smack her, and scientists have observed many such wounds on dolphins before. 

Sounds awful, right? It gets worse- females can be nearly as bad too, but more on that later. 

Baby-Haters

Male dolphins will attack & kill a female's babies so that they can then mate with her and get more of her attention. 

Many species of animals do this, and it’s completely cruel. 

It took a while to figure out this one, but scientists in Virginia were baffled when young dolphin tortoises kept washing up ashore completely bruised and attacked. 

Turns out it was the dolphin fathers (or step-fathers) having a little attack nibble at them...

Using Babies… As Toys

Could you imagine the backlash that a human would get for using a baby as a toy? 

That’s exactly what dolphins were caught doing in one research wildlife preserve; a group of dolphins found a young baby shark and decided to toss it around like a game of volleyball. 

The researchers were horrified to witness the previous cute & cuddly dolphins abusing this poor young shark as a toy. 

Playing With Their Food 

They don’t only play with other species; they play with their food as well! Not in the way of playing with already dead food and goofing around… Nope, they needlessly torture their victims. 

They could just gobble up their fishies, but nope- that’s not enough. Some dolphins have been observed slapping little fish around for fun, or even tossing them up on a beach to watch them suffocate slowly. 

Once the finish has died on the beach, they will then eat it. 

Crazy Humping

Dolphins will hump anything that moves, and males aren’t the only ones guilty here- females are known to do this as well. 

Dolphins will have group sex, and have sex with other animal species- even if the species is dead they’ll still hump the body. 

Oh it gets MUCH crazier. 

Some human scuba-divers have been put into compromising positions as dolphins (including females) have attempted to court human scuba-divers and mate with them. We are not joking- there’s quite the shocking footage online about this. 

If dolphins are feeling particularly aggressive in mating, they can put scuba-divers in risky positions as they will not be able to escape from underwater, and may be slapped into what the dolphin believes is submission. 

Even on land you aren’t safe- some dolphins have been recorded humping the legs of humans that were in water. 

Military Assassins

As if that’s not enough, dolphins as smart as they are can be trained to be military assassins. 

For decades dolphins have been used by militaries all around the world. 

One of their most effective uses is in identifying submarines that have cloaking technology- dolphins are easily able to swim up to submarines undetected & harmless, and then relay the information back to us humans. 

You could also attach cameras to the dolphin and have them perform recon missions for food. 

The great benefit to using dolphins in wartime is that they are natural, fast swimmers (of course) and unlikely to be detected as anything odd (especially if they stay underwater) by enemies. 

The Russians have even trained dolphins to inflict harm. The Russian military have used dolphins to attack underwater frogmen from other countries with harpoons or pull them to the surface to be tortured and questioned by the military.

Vicious Hunters

Orcas are the largest species of dolphins and show no mercy to the seals that they hunt. 

Instead of letting the seals enjoy their life on land (typically ice blocks), they work together to torment the seals.

Orcas will form brigades and swim in unison at the top of the Ocean (much like a swarm of planes flying in formation). This will then create an artificial wave which will smack the seals into the Ocean, where they can then be eaten. 

Dolphins: Good or Bad? 

Your previous beliefs about dolphins may have been completely shattered. They’re still completely adorable creatures, they just have a very, very dark side that few know about. 

We hope you enjoyed this fascinating bit of content. Have a great weekend! 

If you think that you have a wildlife or pest-related problem, please contact us or find a Wildlife x Team location near you! 

Thanks, 
-Wildlife x Team International