Nature: An Uneasy Dip with the Dolphins

Swimming with Flipper is fun, but is it unwarranted exploitation?

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Dolphins might have avoided all this attention if evolution had contrived to give them a permanent frown instead of a permanent smile, or if their foreheads, which bulge with echo-location organs, did not make them look so intelligent. But for whatever reason, people think of the animals as special, perhaps even more so than other intelligent creatures such as chimpanzees or elephants. Unfortunately, dolphins can be smothered by misdirected love as well as by tuna nets. Swimming with them may make their human fans feel good, but it would be better if the admiring masses appreciated their grace and intelligence from afar.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE

CREDIT: TIME Chart by Joe Lertola

CAPTION: SWIM PROGRAMS

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