Two bottlenose dolphins baffled a team of marine researchers, as they touch their fins while swimming. The moment was caught on camera and it is as cute as it sounds!
Erika Jarvis and her OceanX (a non profit marine research organization) diving crew were off Miami coast, as part of a research mission to the Florida Keys Reef Tract, when a pod of bottlenose dolphins started to follow their boat. There’s always fascinating to see these lovely creature swimming next to your boat, but this time Erika witnessed a scene that completely warm her heart. Two dolphins were gently holding fins while swimming. Thankfully, the diver immediately grabbed her cellphone and filmed the sweet moment.
“They stayed with us for a really long time — about half an hour,” Jarvis, the director of social media at the OceanX, explained for The Dodo. “There were about 20 of us up on the bow, peering down … when the purser, who was standing next to me, looked at me and went, ‘Did. You. Get. That?’”
None of the crew could not believe their eyes on what they’ve seen, and they were all moved by this once-in-a-lifetime sighting. But apparently, touching fins is a very common behavior among the bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins are known as highly social animals, so they use all sort of sounds and gesture to show affection to each other.
“While it may look like these bottlenose dolphins coasting with the wake on our bow are engaging in a competitive handshake,” Jarvis wrote on Instagram, “fin-to-fin touching is actually a display of social bonding, especially between females in male-biased groups. Their little synchronous breach really makes it extra sweet.”
Watch the sweet moment below!
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h.t:thedodo