Dolphin Therapy fact or fiction

I read a lot of articles about Dolphin therapy and I wonder to myself is it fact or fiction.   The answer is I don't know.  I do believe that animals of all types benefit humans to a far greater extent than we can ever know.   I think about how many times I just reach out and pet the dog for no other reason than I want to.  How I look forward to my dog greeting me when I get home from work.  I think about how I feel when she is not well or has hurt herself.   I know that I feel better with her around.  I also know that when I work with and interact with the dolphins I also feel a sense of pleasure and relief.  I feel some of my stresses going away and a sense of calmness.  I guess it is considered a sense of therapy however I am unsure if it has a lasting effect.   I also take into account why little children and pregnant women should not interact with the Dolphins.  I know that the dolphin senses when they are near and their instincts take over and want to interact with them.   I can assure you that this is not in a bad way but the risks are too great.    So is Dolphin therapy real?  I am not sure.   But I do know that anything that makes you feel this great can't be bad for you.   Here is a link to a very good article that I have found.  You can decide for yourself.  Comments?  

You the guest

We at Dolphin Cove attract a lot of visitors.  We depend on you so that we can look after our animals and facilities.  From time to time we get some complaints and we also get some very good compliments.  We depend on this to learn and grow.   Some of the comments we get range from the ground should be paved to there are too many fish in the water.   Some are great like I would love to do a Shark Trek can you offer it?   What I am saying is that we depend on you to make us better.   From pointing out things like a stained life Jacket to suggesting ways we can improve.   I implore everyone to go to tripadvisor and tell us your honest opinion.   Some things we can't change but those that we can we will do our best.   Love from all of us at Dolphin Cove.

Eating dolphins (not eating a dolphin)

One of the most frequent questions we are asked is how much does a dolphin eat.  There are many answers to this but most of them are silly.  I will stick to facts.   Dolphins eat a lot.  The amount of food they eat is in direct correlation as to what they are eating.  

Bottlenose dolphins eat several kinds of fish (including mullet, mackerel, herring, cod) and squid. The composition of the diet depends very much on what is available in the area they live in and also on the season. The amount of fish they eat depends on the fish species they are feeding on: mackerel and herring have a very high fat content and consequently have a high caloric value, whereas squid has a very low caloric value, so to get the same energy intake (calories) they will need to eat much more if they feed on squid than if they feed on mackerel or herring. On average an adult dolphin will eat 4-9% of its body weight in fish, so a 250 kg (550 lb) dolphin will eat 10-22.5 kg (22-50 lb) fish per day.

Dolphin vs Human how alike are we.

I have to admit that I borrowed this from the wiki.  The other day I was watching TV and I saw the mermaid documentary on the Discovery Channel.  It got me thinking about how they say that humans evolved from the sea.   Then I thought about dolphins (as one does when you work here)  I wondered what we all share in common.  This is what I found.  I felt that it was important enough to share with you.     Dolphins and humans more alike than you think.  

Both are mammals, so both have mammary glands, and hair on their skin, and they have 7 cervical vertebrae as humans do. 

They are touted to be one of the only 3 animals that mate for pleasure (humans, dolphins, bonobos), and socially with many partners as many humans do. They also mate face to face unlike other animals. Dolphins do give birth to live young, and as mammals, they nurse their young with breast milk. 

They have very high communication skills amongst themselves. They are very social and prefer to live in pods rather than alone. Females will create a communal/ family creche for the young, so that others may go to hunt and feed. They show emotions of happines and sadness. They mourn the death of a member of the pod, especially an offspring. They also display working in teams to achieve a common goal. When hunting, they create tight balls of sardines by circling and herding them, and then diving straight through them to feed. Pods are very protective of each other and sometimes show compassion, and may adopt a young out of another pod if it has been left behind or lost its mother. 

Additionally, they have mirror neurons, being able to pass the mirror test and detect themselves in a mirror. Mirror neurons may also indicate empathy. 

In short, they display more "human" emotions and behaviors than any other non-primate mammal.  Here is what I have found may be what the human dolphin combo may look like.