It’s no secret that dolphins and whales are intelligent creatures. Playing is a good indicator for animal intelligence, and playing is exactly what these bottlenose dolphins and humpback whales were doing off the coast of Kauai.
While interactions between different species are obviously very common in the wild, it’s not often that those interactions come in the form of playfulness. Scientists watched as the dolphins swam onto the whales’ heads, and then the whales would lift the dolphins out of the water. After balancing for as long as they could, the dolphins slid back into the water. Neither the whales nor the dolphins showed any signs of aggression, and the act was repeated many times. Such behavior has been spotted in two different places in Hawaiian waters.
Lori Mazzuca posted a photo on The Whale and Dolphin People Project’s facebook page, saying that the dolphins seemed to be trying to remain balanced on the whale’s head for as long as they could.
