"Sometimes I dream that I'm swimming with dolphins, when suddenly I'm seeing through their eyes perceiving things I've never been aware of." "We're swimming through a shining sea of light yet there is a sense of danger, lurking off the in darkness beyond." "And in the logic of my dream," "Only one light can save us." "Dolphins swam these waters millions of years before we were here." "Like us, they're mammals and yet, they're completely at home in the sea." "There are over forty species of dolphins, which have adapted to every sea on Earth, and many of her great rivers." "The Slim Spinner dolphins revel in the warm waters of Hawaii." "The Stout Duskies swim the frigid waters of Argentina and New Zealand." "The pink and long-beaked Amazon river dolphin has lived in fresh water for 15 million years." "The Bottlenose seems to be one of the most intelligent dolphins and therefore one of the easiest to train." "Of course... no other animal their size has such a large and well developed brain." "Not even your favorite dog." "Lulu and Charlie are kept in pens, but they're taken out into open water every day." "And if they understand the trainer's signals and perform impeccably, they get to kiss a mutt named Sloppy Joe." "We can't measure an animal's I.Q., but tests show that dolphins are the smartest animals on earth, or close to it." "Here, the dolphin must choose the correct symbols and reject all the rest." "* This dolphin batted a thousand." "27 correct answers in a row." "One of the cleverest dolphins ― The Orca ― is also the largest." "When they flip their five-ton bodies high in the air with the greatest of ease, it kind of makes you wonder how do dolphins do that?" "Dolphins defy the laws of physics;" "they shouldn't be able to leap as high and swim as fast as they do." "Terrie Williams studies dolphin physiology." "We measure Primo's oxygen consumption while he pushes against the load cell." "He uses very little oxygen to generate tremendous power." "Primo breathes the same air you and I do." "He's just better at it." "When he surfaces to breathe, the extended air rushes out at 100 Miles per hour." "He can stay underwater for 8 minutes, diving to a depth of 500 feet." "The dolphin, perhaps the most efficient swimmer in the ocean, swims 5 times faster than even the speediest human." "What's their secret?" "Terrie is testing the dolphin's tail to see if is spring-loaded, like a kangaroo's legs." "An anatomical spring could give the dolphins the speed and endurance to out-swim all the other ocean creatures." "* And make it look easy." "Their unrivalled intelligence and strength make dolphins so well adapted to their environment that their basic anatomy hasn't changed much in over 5 million years." "All that time, the dolphins' main predator has been the shark." "But now dolphins face a new and even deadlier threat ―" "Us." "A man named Sam La Budde risked his life to shoot a very disturbing video aboard a tuna boat." "At that time, millions of dolphins were dying in tuna nets." "Public outrage reduced the slaughter, * but not before ⅔ of the dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific were killed." "Thousands of dolphins are still dying every day in fishing nets around the world." "Today, an even greater threat from us is pollution, which makes dolphins increasingly vulnerable to disease but people can help." "In Florida, 2 very sick dolphins were rescued and nicknamed Hercules and Holly." "Some very dedicated people will spend months caring for them, while they're being studied by doctor Randy Wells." "Pneumonia and infections weakened Holly and Hercules, but didn't diminish their strong bond with one another." "Even when they were separated for a medical exam, they were constantly calling out to each other, like lovers or good friends." "This is an alien world to them." "The exam lasted almost an hour, yet Hercules never stopped calling out to Holly." "Both dolphins have good function of their lungs now, and they're eating very well." "We have great hopes for the prospects of being able to release them within the next few weeks." "Scientists like Randy Wells are trying to help dolphins survive by learning more about them." "We can't protect what we don't understand." "In Hawaii, Dr. Lou Herman studies dolphin intelligence." "His research shows that dolphins are quick to understand and respond to a complex language of gestures." "Not even chimpanzees read sign language so well." "Kathleen Dudzinski studies how wild dolphins communicate." "This is a special treat for me." "In the wild, I never touch dolphins." "But these trained dolphins are used to human touch." "Dolphins have a knack for playing games and often invent new ones." "More amazing, when told to create their own jump, they confer with one another underwater, communicating, planning and inventing before performing a brand new leap." "There's no doubt dolphins are intelligent and creative." "But do they feel emotions, like grief?" "Or joy?" "Can they make friends with one of us?" "In the British West Indies, a wild bottlenose dolphin named JoJo has developed a highly unusual bond of friendship with a man." "JoJo belongs to no dolphin family or social group." "He is one of the very few dolphins in the world who seeks out human contact, especially his pal, a naturalist named Dean Bernal." "Years ago, when tourists swam into JoJo's feeding grounds and tried to touch and harrass him, he would bite their hands in self defense." "A resort owner tried to get him put in captivity." "Dean Bernal intervened and was appointed JoJo's official warden." "It took months to build JoJo's trust." "Each day he swam a little closer." "But finally we became good friends." "We've been meeting at Sunfish Reef every day for 15 years." "JoJo finds his favorite toy fish an endless source of fascination." "JoJo and I spend a lot of time exploring his world." "A nearby resort runs boats through the dolphins' feeding grounds, injuring several dolphins badly, including JoJo." "One dolphin was killed by sharp propeller blades." "Some of JoJo's wounds were nearly fatal, but Dean led him into shallow water and nursed him back to health with antibiotics." "This painful medical treatment would have been impossible without the strong bond of trust between these two." "Tomorrow I have to go away for 4 months." "I wish I could speak to JoJo to reassure him that I'll hurry back to see him." "You can hardly blame Dean for wishing he could talk to his underwater companion." "But will we ever learn how dolphins communicate?" "To find out, a young scientist has followed her dream, to a place where dolphins swim free." "Just a hop, skip and a jump off the south-east coast of Florida is that mellow string of islands called the Bahamas." "Here the living is easy, for Kathleen Dudzinski and the dolphins she studies." "Just one problem:" "This is hurricane country." "Hope Town is home base for Kathleen, as she studies dolphin communication and social behavior." "I've been living and diving here on and off for almost 4 years." "researching the dolphins and getting to know my neighbors." "There are 1,500 miles of reef in the Bahamas." "The combination of deep and shallow water is an ideal dolphin habitat." "They feed in deep water then rest and socialize over sandbars, in shallow, crystal-clear waters, where sharks can't easily sneak up on them from below." "I teach dolphin conservation, but my main passion is studying communication among Atlantic Spotted dolphins." "I've custom-built a video rig with 2 underwater microphones, so I can 'eavesdrop' on dolphin conversations." "And you have the 2 underwater microphones right here, which are hydrophones." "My research is aimed at one underlying goal..." "I hope to use any knowledge I gather to help protect these animals." "In the United States, it's illegal to swim with wild dolphins." "Here in the Bahamas, I never forget that I'm entering their habitat ― their home." "Whenever I approach a group of wild dolphins, it still makes my heart race." "They're unpredictable and majestic, graceful yet powerful animals." "To study their communication," "Kathleen videotapes the dolphins and records the sounds they make." "Dolphins use a distinct set of sounds to communicate with each other ― chirps, squawks, clicks, whistles and click trains." "Kathleen looks for consistent match-ups between behavior and vocalizations." "Whenever two adults approach each other, they make click sounds till they meet then there are two alternatives." "If the two separate right away, they chirp actively." "But when two adults join up and swim together, side by side, they barely make a sound." "Why is that?" "Kathleen is trying to find the answer." "Dolphins, like my pal Freckles, seldom move their mouths." "They're basically ventriloquists." "To figure out which one is vocalizing," "Kathleen spaced her new microphones about 3 feet apart, to exaggerate the stereo sound." "There is one visual cue that a dolphin is vocalizing." "It's called a bubble-stream." "Bubble-streams often accompany whistles." "Even with her new videos as a guide, it's tough for Kathleen to track this group because individuals come and go freely." "Kathleen has catalogued 125 dolphins by age and gender, giving each a name and a number." "Dolphins are possibly the only other creatures besides us who call each other by name." "Of the 125 dolphins I've studied," "I was amazed to discover that adult females vocalize 3 times more than males." "Why?" "As moms, adult females vocalize often to keep their frisky youngsters in line, and teach them survival skills." "Meghan... 34, Freckles 78 and Gash." "Got it..." "Most dolphins are highly vocal when they socialize so I was really surprised to discover that these spotted dolphin's are not." "I wonder if the exceptional water clarity here is a factor." "Perhaps dolphins who can see one another clearly..." "It's something to think about on the way back to port." "I love Hopetown, but even here, I'm always thinking about dolphins." "When I watch people on the street, I'm seeing dolphins in my mind's eye." "Every human gesture echoes what I've just seen underwater." "Like dolphins, we don't rely on sound alone to communicate." "We use a rich vocabulary of gestures, and postures and dance." "Maybe we're not so different from dolphins after all." "Like here, I see a vocal greeting, a pectoral fin rub, and maybe a few chirps on parting." "Kathleen's colleague, Alejandro Acevedo, is an expert on dolphin feeding behavior." "They're teaming up to figure out how dolphins communicate when they feed." "When I play back my videos," "I slow the sounds way down and analyze them digitally." "And it's amazing." "What sounds like a short chirp to you and me actually contains many different signals." "Dolphins can compress information, almost like a computer and then 'read' signals at a very high speed." "Dolphins repeat the same sounds in a pattern that closely resembles the structure of human language." "I get really excited when I discover a pattern, but I need more data to confirm it if we can find the dolphins." "Kathleen, I spotted a pod just off the south tip of Abaco." "Thanks, George, and have a safe flight to Freeport." "A group of dolphins can travel 50 miles in a day, so the hardest part of Kathleen's job is finding them." "Communication is not the goal of every vocalization." "Certain click sounds let dolphins detect hidden objects with great precision, using a kind of sonar called echolocation." "Dolphins echolocate to find food." "To study dolphin sonar I'll use my new click detector which can record very high-pitched clicks." "Small fish and crustaceans bury themselves in the sand as protection against predators." "But the dolphins go right to the goodies." "As if they can see right through the sand." "And in a way, they can." "When a dolphin sends out a stream of clicks, the sound bounces back and gives the dolphin a mental picture." "It's as if they can penetrate solid objects, almost like an x-ray." "Echolocation is not the only advantage dolphins have over the rest of us." "Their 2 eyeballs move independently of each other." "They can see straight back with one eye and straight up with the other." "At bedtime, a dolphin closes one eye, so one half of the brain can rest, while the other eye watches for predators, like sharks." "Touch is a primary means of communication for all dolphins." "Through skin sensitivity tests, we know that dolphins can feel even the lightest tap." "A gentle rubbing of the pectoral fin is an affectionate gesture that I see again and again." "But dolphins are not all peace and love." "Adult males sometimes kill porpoises and even young dolphins." "Freckles has a double scar right behind his dorsal fin where another dolphin bit him." "They can use their tail flukes to deliver a very nasty kick." "Dozens of people have been bitten and seriously injured by dolphins." "If a dolphin approaches you jawing aggressively, it's time to back off." "* Kathleen Dudzinski:" "They're plenty aggressive and tough, but they're also capable of undeniable tenderness." "In order to survive, dolphins are going to need care and support from future generations." "* To the children: they'll make sounds like squawk or like 'Wak wak'." "Now I'm going to show you guys some video, ok?" "Do you want to see a video?" "Okay." "Dolphins love to surf, but this is one of the first times we caught it on video." "In South Africa, this contest for 2-legged surfers was interrupted by dolphins who really know how to ride the waves." "So this is a dolphin birth." "They come out tail first." "And they breathe air just like we do." "Watch it happen." "See the baby." "And it goes right to the surface to breathe, take its first breath of air." "If dolphins are to survive, these kids have to care about them, they have to connect with the animals that Alejandro and I love." "* Alejandro Acevedo:" "So this is called a spinner dolphin because it jumps way high, * higher than a basketball hoop..." "The feeding behavior of dolphins is Alejandro's passion." "*... and then they go and they're getting active and more active until everyone is ready to go and ready to go eat." "To research their eating habits," "Alejandro and Kathleen went to Argentina over Christmas break." "The coast of South America is home to thousands and thousands of acrobatic dusky dolphins." "Alejandro and Kathleen will join their former professor, Bernd Wursig, who did his field work here, over 20 years ago." "Their special research permit will allow the scientists to get close to the dolphins." "Kathleen will record their vocal signals, while" "Alejandro studies their feeding strategies." "So this is Puerto Piramide." "Professor Wursig always said this was a one horse town." "He's pretty literal." "Each morning, small groups of hungry duskies patrol the bay, looking for schools of fish to eat." "I see something over there." "Dolphins in a hurry move in long flat leaps, as Professor Wursig noted years ago." "They move fast through the air, which is 800 times less dense than water." "That was a low salmon leap." "As soon as we dive in," "I spot a few duskies snacking on a small school of fish." "But not enough to make a meal for a large group." "A much larger school of fish is called a baitball and that's just what dolphins are feeding on, somewhere out here." "But where?" "An Argentine researcher locates dolphins and calls in their position." "There is some activity to the southeast of you." "Professor Wursig found that dolphins on patrol leap for a purpose." "When they're high in the air, they can see for over 5 miles and spot signals from other dolphins." "We think that dolphins leap high so they can see a flock of birds, feeding on anchovies." "Several groups of duskies race toward the feeding birds." "Their loud vocal calls could be to attract other dolphins to the hunt." "The first dolphins on the scene move under the baitball, driving it to the surface, and cutting off the escape route below." "Dolphins circle the baitball like cowboys herding cattle." "Instead of shouting 'yippie ky yo' they blow bubbles, which scare the fish and keep the baitball together." "Today we're shooting the first underwater video of this activity with stereo sound." "Maybe this will answer our main questions." "We know that when many dolphins feed on a baitball, they take turns..." "But why?" "And how does the group signal a single dolphin when it's her turn to eat?" "If all the duskies fed at once, the ball would break up and the fish will swim away." "By taking turns, they all get more to eat, in the long run." "The instant before the dolphins charged through the baitball, that's when their echolocation clicks were most intense." "Could that be the vocal cue we're looking for?" "To answer that question, we'll spend months analyzing today's video, frame by frame." "Groups of duskies that came together to feed, stick around for after-dinner festivities." "At last." "A chance to put my theory to the test:" "In these murky waters, the duskies should vocalize much more than the spotted dolphins do, in the clear waters of the Bahamas." "Dolphins are pretty efficient at mating." "The male swims upside down beneath the female." "Blink and you've missed it." "Today, the duskies seemed far more vocal than the spotteds are when socializing." "This is strong evidence that water clarity affects dolphin sounds." "I hate to leave Argentina, especially after dancing at the Dusky Ball." "But the concept of dance as communication has given me an idea." "Besides..." "I miss Freckles." "Although the duskies seem to vocalize much more than the Atlantic spotteds, the concept of dance is common to both." "In my quest to understand the dolphin's body language," "I wondered what would happen if I approached them in a completely different way?" "I wondered if the speed of the scooter would allow me to become less of an observer, and more of a participant in their dance." "Sometimes the dolphins positioned themselves right in front of me, as if they wanted to coax me on." "I felt like a dancer, first following my partner, then leading." "They were interacting with me in a new way, a much closer way." "I've observed that a lot of the communication between these dolphins is non-verbal." "It's probably much closer to dance and music than it is to language." "The scooter gave me a first-hand glimpse of that." "For the first time, I felt I was part of their dance, which is at the very heart of all dolphin communication." "Did you see that?" "That was awesome." "That was incredible from what I saw here." "I had them all over and you could see like you were a part of the whole group." "It was just... unbelievable," "At first, I focussed solely on vocal signals after all, I'm human, and language is everything to us." "But I've made more discoveries now that I've embraced the instruments of communication that dolphins use so eloquently posture, gesture, and touch." "The gestures and body language so important to Kathleen are also central to the friendship between Dean Bernal and JoJo, the dolphin." "After 4 months away from the British West Indies," "Dean is coming home." "Since this is the longest Dean has been gone, he cannot predict how JoJo will react to his absence." "He doesn't know exactly where to find the dolphin, but he has a hunch." "For years Dean swam out to Sunfish Reef to see JoJo." "When Dean first caught up to him," "JoJo kept his distance." "The dolphin was giving Dean the cold shoulder." "Would JoJo's favorite toy fish be the icebreaker?" "Sure enough." "Before long, they were up to their old tricks." "Bubble rings are my way of saying..." "'Glad to see you, JoJo.'" "You can never be sure what a wild animal will do, but I should have known all along that JoJo wouldn't abandon me." "A few years ago, I was approached by a hammerhead shark." "As soon as JoJo saw I was in danger, he rushed in to get between me and the shark." "Then he rammed that hammerhead with his rostrum and drove the shark right down to the ocean floor." "JoJo would not have protected Dean from the hammerhead, if he hadn't felt a strong emotion." "There's no denying that the bond between them is very real." "After all my years with JoJo, there's still a barrier we can never get past we don't speak each other's language." "My bubble rings are a friendly greeting, but does he really get the message?" "I would give everything I own in this world to spend just one hour chatting with JoJo in his own language, and getting to know his consciousness, as well as I know his heart and soul." "Meanwhile, I'll just keep blowing these bubble rings." "Alejandro and I, and many others like us, have dedicated our lives to dolphins." "I love these animals and believe, with all my heart, that they can only survive in the growing light of human knowledge." "They are supremely intelligent, highly social, endlessly flirtatious, and not above a fight." "In short, dolphins are the creatures we might have been, had we lived in the sea." "We want to ask them:" "'Hey, what's it like?" "'" "We want to say let's illuminate the darkness together and create a sea of light in which all creatures swim free."