A dolphin show at Theater of the Sea. Photos by Ellen Maher and Katey Batavia.

Dolphins & Humans,

a History of Friendship

It is a deeply moving experience interacting with dolphins. They have been friends of humans for thousands of years, following ships and coming to beaches to swim with people. They have also been known to protect human swimmers from sharks.

Like horses and dogs, dolphins can be trained to work as therapy animals for disabled people. My late husband, who was a quadriplegic, gave his family a Christmas present of swimming with dolphins in Key Largo. The facility used revenues from dolphin swims to support dolphin programs for disabled children.

The dolphins in Key Largo swam freely in the ocean and voluntarily returned to their cove when they were scheduled to work. Sadly, the government eventually forced the facility to confine the dolphins to the cove. Since dolphins are marine mammals, there were concerns that human diseases might spread to wild dolphins.

Bottle-nosed dolphins, California sea lions and seals, and beluga whales in military marine mammal programs rescue lost personnel and recover sunken equipment. They protect harbors and naval vessels. Using their ecolocation abilities, dolphins excel at discovering mines, dropping weighted buoys near the mines to mark the location. These are defensive missions. There have been rumors of military marine mammals being used in offensive missions. Environmentalists are concerned that this practice could put entire populations of these animals at risk.

At a Venice, Florida jetty, groups of wild dolphins often come and perform just for the applause. Robert and I once watched a group of five or six dolphins put on a fifteen-minute show at the jetty.

A trainer at Theater of the Sea said she had previously worked with a dolphin who was sixty-eight years old. Dolphins may live close to 100 years. Theater of the Sea dolphins swim in a large natural body of water with many small fish in the shallows, so there are probably lots of fish to eat. The trainer said that dolphins at Theater of the Sea are never coerced to perform, but choose to interact with people and love their jobs.

While dogs are said to be “man’s best friend” on land, dolphins may be humans’ best friend at sea.

* Information on military marine mammals is from AI Overview and comes from Wikipedia and CNN.

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__From Life in Inspiring Places

Copyright© 2026 by Cheryl Batavia