"Diviner than the dolphins is nothing yet created, for indeed they were for time men and lived in cities along with mortals. They exchanged the land for the sea and put on the form of fishes.
"But, even now,the righteous spirit of men in them preserves human thought and human deed."OPPIAN OF SILICA,Greek poet, 200 AD.
Let me introduce myself, I, along with my cousins the whales are all in the order of mammals known as CETACEAN, but you will know me best by the name Dolphin and as such I shall use that name throughout this article.
First I would like to tell you a little about my physical self. It must be remembered that about 55 million years ago my land mammal ancestors evolved into sea dwelling creatures and for this reason I still bear a strong resemblance to mankind in my physical structure and that for the past 30-40 million years I have retained the same CRANIAL capacity, it has hardly changed at all. Embryos have shown distinct traces of my ancestral roots with a doomed CRANIUM, some hair, a nose and mouth, rudimentary ears and a constricted neck and hind limbs, in fact is is very hard to distinguish in the early embryonic stages between a human embryo and a Dolphins.
It has also been shown that our PECTORAL fins have almost the same bone structure as a humans, with three upper arm bones and five fingers, quite remarkable isn't it.
Working in conjunction with a very famous man, Dr. John Lilly it has been shown that proportionally my BRAIN is larger than a humans, specifically in the species Bottlenecks.
My CEREBRAL CORTEX is far more convoluted, which according to human definitions, means it is a measure of conceptualizing ability. Which when you consider I live in a huge "family communion" known as a POD, without any dis-cord or dis-harmony, really means that I do have the ability to control my emotions at a very high level. More on that later though., for I would like to speak of my primary sense. Although possessing excellent eyesight, my finest sense is my quite extraordinary SONAR or ECHOLOCATION. You have probably all heard the recordings of the sounds I make, clicks and whistles, well these are only the audible portion of what is a much vaster wave band of frequencies which can scan at least several hundred yards and give me a complete sonic picture of my surroundings in minute detail. This includes even solid matter just as in human ultra-sound.
An amazing example of this was when a women entered a Dolphin pen. Normally the Dolphin is a gentle loving friendly soul, but this Dolphin suddenly shot across the pen and "punched" the surprised lady very hard in her ribs with its rostrum. Of course the woman was winded and rushed to hospital, where right behind the bulls-eye bruise was a huge malignant tumor. There is no doubt that the Dolphin had already seen this and acted in an intelligent manner to communicate this to the woman. Yes, I can "see" incredibly complex 3-D sonic pictures, just as I have said, like human ultra-sounding equipment.
It has also been noticed that we are highly telepathic and that we exhibit some form of "collective consciousness" within the pod.
So we are a remarkable creature, but let us know move on to some of the other areas which are relevant to Dolphin Lore.
All around the world for at least several thousand of years, indigenous tribes have had symbiotic relationships with the local Dolphins. In many areas we help them to catch fish, this has been written of by the Greek poet ARION in 600 BC and in the First Century AD the Roman PLINY "The Elder" also wrote of this amazing help we give to humans.
Rock drawings of the Australian Aboriginals and the Imragen tribe of the Mauritanian coast depict this feat and to this day the Imragen tribe depend on fishing for their survival, they wait on the beach , until they sight Mullet, and then "call" to us by beating on the water, waiting for us to faithfully herd the Mullet into the nets.
A'LUL'QUOY (translation) - To go around - To protect - To go in peace.
The above name was given to my by the indigenous Californian Native Indians known as the CHUMASH, for I am greatly beloved by this tribe.
I am deeply sacred to the Australian Aboriginal, being seen as a wise elder brother, whom they consult, in when in the deepest meditation, dream time, regarding various tribal matters and when one of the tribe dies their spirit becomes that of a Dolphin.
Spanning all the oceans of the world, dolphins are the link between the physical world and the Spiritual World!
