See a Dolphin Soothe Its Unborn Baby By Singing It Fishy Lullabies

This amazing video footage of a mother dolphin shows how these intelligent animals communicate not just with other dolphins and marine life, but even with their calves still in the womb. It begins with the dolphin, known as Puck, swimming through an underwater grassy meadow. She swims in Shark Bay, an area in Australia. She’s hunting for food, although the area is a frequent hangout for tiger sharks. The seagrass has plenty of potential food for Puck but also allows the tiger sharks to hide and sneak up on their prey. Fortunately for her, she’s easily able to outswim any sharks that she can detect before they attack. But the narrator notes that once her calf is born, she won’t be able to swim as fast and could face more danger from sharks.

The researchers in the video spot a dugong and her calf, swimming slowly through Shark Bay. Dugongs are closely related to manatees but are a distinct species. The one in the video protects its calf from potential predators. The calf swims on top of the mother’s back, even in the shallow water. Dugongs are slower than dolphins, making them more vulnerable to shark attacks in the bay.

Using a special underwater microphone to collect sounds, the researcher captures a special song. Puck sings to herself with a call that is unique to her. Normally, she calls out to other dolphins with this signal to identify herself. But there aren’t any other dolphins nearby this time. Instead, it seems like she’s singing this lullaby just for her calf and herself. It’s possible that Puck is getting ready to give birth to her calf soon.

Is This Normal Dolphin Behavior?

Dolphins are very vocal animals so calls and sounds are pretty normal. There is a lot of evidence and documentation that shows how they use these sounds to communicate with each other. Each dolphin has their own unique call, similar to the way that people have their own voices, intonation, and ways of speaking.

What is unique about this instance is that Puck does not seem to be using her call to communicate with other dolphins. Instead, she makes the sounds just for herself and her calf. This was a truly special thing to witness. While dolphins may do this often, capturing it on an audio recording device doesn’t happen all of the time. This researcher was in the right place at the right time to get to see this touching moment of the mama dolphin and her unborn calf.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Andriy Nekrasov/Shutterstock.com