The world's sadest bottlenose dolphin might have started talking to himself because he has no friends, according to a heartbreaking new scientific study.
The male dolphin, dubbed Delle by the locals, has left scientists scratching their heads as he wanders the Baltic Sea alone. Researchers have found Delle venturing into Denmark's Svendborgsund channel, a spot that's not typical for his kind. Bottlenose dolphins are known for being incredibly social creatures, often using "signature whistles" to communicate with one another – but it appears Delle is whistling solo.
Scientists have dived into the mystery of Delle's odd behaviour, deploying underwater recording gear to capture his sounds. They discovered that the solitary dolphin was quite chatty, but his calls were missing "intentionality" since there weren't any fellow dolphins around to hear them.
"If the dolphin's solitary status was unknown, one might conclude that the recordings captured a group of three different dolphins," the scientists noted. "It is highly unusual that the dolphin produced these sounds without any conspecifics present."
The team admitted they're at a loss for a solid reason behind this behaviour, but suggested that Delle's "self-talk" might stem from his innate need for social contact, reports the Daily Star. In a separate incident, a swimmer in Japan recently recounted a narrow escape after an encounter with an overly frisky dolphin causing havoc in a local town.
Takuma Goto was swimming with a friend near the town of Tsuruga in central Japan when they encountered a single dolphin. As they swam around 20 meters offshore from Crystal Beach the mammal launched its attack on them. Local authorities are aware of the attacking dolphin and have even put signs up to warn those venturing into the water.
At first, Mr Goto thought he was being attacked by a shark but soon realised it was a dolphin when the animal lifted its head from the water. The 23-year-old swimmer explained how he "genuinely believed" he was going to die when the mammal went for him after grabbing hold of his friend.
"I knew it was not a shark, but it came straight at me," he said. "It attacked me and bit me. It kept attacking me and I genuinely believed that I was going to die. I was most worried that I was going to be dragged under the water and further out to sea."
Horrified crowds watched on helplessly as Mr Goto was savaged just 65ft form the beach. Although attacks on humans from dolphins are relatively rare, Mr Goto was bitten and was left with wounds to both his arms, as well as a gash on his left index finger, which needed five stitches. He was only rescued when a nearby surfer spotted the danger and attempted to intercept the attack.