Dolphins: the good, the bad and the ugly

Emma Chaplin
, 20 June 2022
Dolphins: the good, the bad and the ugly
Short-beaked Common Dolphin © Caroline Weir

By Sarah Ward

Living Seas Officer

We were tasked to come up with ideas of different “heroes and villains” of the natural world. When it comes to the marine environment, there are a few species that have been “vilified”, mostly by Hollywood - sharks being the obvious example. 

Dolphins on the other hand, have been made the heroes, making us think they’re gentle, caring and friendly creatures.

Whilst this isn’t wholly untrue, dolphins also exhibit a number of traits that suggest they're more complex in the “heroes and villains” stakes than they may first appear. Which is true of all creatures, and probably true of most humans we tend to hero worship (or villainise).

Dolphins are known to attack and kill baby dolphins. It is understood that this is because males see new calves as “competition”, so may try and see off the baby, so that the mother is free to make more babies. 

And male dolphins are ruthless when it comes to mating. Males can form “gangs”, isolating females from other pods. 

You’ve probably seen footage of dolphins playing. However, sometimes it may be that they’re 'playing' with other animals. A well-known example is a group of dolphins using a baby shark as a make-shift volleyball.

To humans, these behaviours may seem shocking, but it’s important to remember that scientific literature suggests these are quite normal, albeit somewhat violent, behaviours. Dolphins don’t have the same concept of consent as humans do.

All this being said, dolphins are absolutely amazing creatures that never fail to excite and interest me and it’s always lovely to hear about dolphin being spotted off the Sussex coast.

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Comments

  • Hannah Parkinson:

    Interesting blog. Are you / SWT joining in Sea Watch Foundation’s National Whale & Dolphin Week? Running from July 24 – August 1, it is a great way to assess the abundance or otherwise of dolphin and other cetaceans in the Sussex area – and Sussex is poorly represented in the dataset….You can find out more at https://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw/

    23 Jun 2021 21:52:00

  • Carter:

    Did you know dolphins get drunk on pufferfish

    07 Nov 2024 16:35:00

  • Roger Wright:

    QUOTE: “ To humans, these behaviours may seem shocking, but it’s important to remember that scientific literature suggests these are quite normal, albeit somewhat violent, behaviours. Dolphins don’t have the same concept of consent as humans do.”

    I disagree. Roughly 99% of humans believe it morally ok to murder and rape non-human animals for meat and dairy. And the things that happens to non-human animals in laboratory experiments (which rarely even get useful scientific data) are significantly more cruel, strange, and torturous than anything observed in the wild.

    While it is true that many non-humans in the wild are completely savage and ‘evil’, the exact same is true for humans. Humans, and other forms of life, are just vehicles to spread their genes.

    I am not condoning human cruelty to non-human animals. I myself do not engage in that at all. It isn’t even needed for maximum nutrition. I am merely suggesting that the moral agency humans like to believe they have, is nothing more than pro-social instinct. Because evolution made that the most efficient method for survival, for the human species. There is nothing morally unique about humans.

    07 Nov 2024 17:45:00

  • John:

    I’m so confuse, I didn’t know that info since then, thought dolphins are good and sharks are bad creature but I was wrong, the tv, movie shows that sharks are bad and commiting bad deeds but they are fooling and misinformed people on what is really happened in the reality, luckily I’ve been read this very informative blog about dolphins.

    17 Nov 2024 18:10:00

  • Jayden Dhanda:

    Do dolphins rape other dolphins

    04 Mar 2025 14:38:00

  • Sussex Wildlife Trust:

    There’s certainly evidence for aggressive sexual behaviour in various dolphin species, however we don’t think there’s any scientific reports that refers to any of these behaviours as ‘rape’.

  • Lawless, Austin S.:

    Surely an interesting Finding..

    14 Jun 2025 22:22:00

  • Jake Rubin:

    I cannot believe the Dolphins are doing this this fright just makes me very very, very upset.

    30 Aug 2025 22:20:00

  • Chris:

    “Dolphins don’t have the same concept of consent as humans do”. Not quite. Seems like dolphins are on par with the adult male’s understanding of consent. Then there’s the ‘domestic violence’ and competing with their offspring as soon as they are not getting all their needs met by their female partner. So much for aspiring to be more like dolphins. We are already there. Further evidence that females of all species are not safe from sexual violence. Period.

    14 Nov 2025 22:11:00

  • Millie:

    This is extremely disappointing I did not expect this from my sea life friends I will be having a word with – sea life jails should be installed immediately and punishments shall be given!

    26 Nov 2025 05:13:00

  • Jimmy:

    crazy

    17 Dec 2025 22:32:00

  • Ashley:

    Female dolphins have a form of birth control but instead of it being something they ingest it’s built in there is a flap on the inside so if they want to have sex for pleasure but not procreation they close the flap and they sperm cannot get to the egg also males can use their penis to grab things

    20 Jun 2026 14:54:00

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