This dolphin attacked more than 40 people, and it just wanted to make friends?

On the Tsuruga Peninsula in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, a dangerous atmosphere is hidden on the peaceful coast.

Lifeguards on the shore and police officers on patrol boats were nervously scanning the sea, looking for a dangerous animal that threatens human safety. Once they found its gray dorsal fin above the water, they had to immediately notify nearby residents to evacuate.

The animal they were on guard against was not a shark, but a dolphin .

The dangerous animal near the sea is not the shark, but the dolphin | chunichi.co.jp

Dolphin bite incident

Since 2022, there have been frequent incidents of dolphins biting swimmers in Fukui Prefecture. So far, a total of 48 people have been attacked by dolphins . Among them, as many as 18 attacks occurred between July 21 and August 20 this summer.

Dolphins appeared at Fukui City Eagle Nest Beach on July 29 | Sales News Online

The most common place for dolphin bites is the beach on the Tsuruga Peninsula. About 80% of the people attacked are tourists from other places who suddenly encountered dolphins in the shallow sea while swimming. Some people only had minor scratches on their fingers by dolphin teeth, but some people were bitten by dolphins and had wounds that required more than 20 stitches. Some people also broke several ribs due to the collision with dolphins. In addition, some people were dragged into the water by dolphins and almost drowned.

Dolphins have injured people before, but the frequency of this incident in Fukui Prefecture is particularly alarming. Swimmers of all ages, from 60-year-olds to 10-year-olds, have been threatened by dolphins .

Biting humans, just trying to make friends?

Masamichi Morisaka, an ecologist at Mie University, conducted a field investigation into dolphin bites. After analyzing images and video footage, he found that the scars on the dolphin's fins in each incident were very similar - this suggests that the more than 40 incidents over the past three years may have been caused by the same dolphin .

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) | Wikipedia

The individual was a wild male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), which was often seen in shallow waters less than 10 meters from shore and always alone —unusual because dolphins are highly social animals that usually live in groups.

This dolphin is 2-3 meters long and weighs up to 200 kilograms. It can swim at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour for a short period of time. It also has sharp teeth. If it wants to attack with all its strength, whether it is biting or hitting, it is enough to cause fatal damage to humans.

Being hit by a dolphin at full force can be as dangerous as a traffic accident | pixabay

However, all the victims have only suffered minor injuries so far - this shows that the dolphin seems to have no ill will towards humans , and it did not really bite hard.

Morisaka speculates that the truth behind the biting incident may be that a lonely dolphin wanted to make friends . Male dolphins often form close partnerships with the same sex, and one of their ways of playing to maintain relationships is to gently bite each other. Perhaps the dolphin that caused the incident also saw humans as potential partners, and it wanted to express its feelings in a dolphin way to meet its own social needs.

Of course, "gentle nibbling" is just dolphin standards. By human standards, this behavior is still quite dangerous. The dolphin that caused the accident seems to be very accustomed to human contact, and it may continue to "commit crimes" next time, causing more injuries.

What should you do if you encounter a dolphin?

The local Coast Guard has stepped up patrols and used underwater speakers to play ultrasonic waves to scare away dolphins. However, these measures are not enough to keep the offending dolphins away from the coast.

If you do encounter dolphins while swimming in the sea, how should you respond? Three important principles are: don't approach, don't feed, and get ashore as soon as possible .

Even though dolphins look very cute, you should never approach or touch them. In several cases, the victims were bitten when they reached out to touch the dolphins . Ryoichi Matsubara, director of the Echizen Matsushima Aquarium, said that dolphins are similar in size and destructive power to bears, so people should be wary of them like bears.

Don't forget, behind the dolphin's "cute smile" there are sharp teeth | dolphins-world

In addition, the local Coast Guard also recommends that people only swim in areas where there are lifeguards on duty. Lifeguards at high altitudes can more easily observe the dorsal fins of dolphins, and they can notify swimmers through broadcasts to get ashore in time.

Masamichi Morisaka hopes that in the future an early warning system can be developed that uses sound waves to detect dolphins, so that alarms can be issued more quickly and accurately to notify tourists to evacuate. He believes that as long as people can leave immediately, the dolphin will lose its interaction partner and will gradually get bored and eventually give up coming to the coast for fun.

At present, no one knows whether this move will really work, and no one knows when this storm will end.

Author: Window Knocking Rain

Edited by: Yellowtail Pollock