New Mom Emotional After A Dolphin Refused To Come Near Her During An Excursion — Until She Understood The Smell She Was Giving Off
She couldn’t help but feel disappointed, until she realized the true reason they were keeping their distance.
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After planning a vacation and picking out a specific dolphin excursion to try, a new mom couldn’t contain her disappointment when the animals avoided her in the water. The woman, known as @fishandcornbread on TikTok, shared clips her family captured of her in the water trying to swim with the dolphins and their deliberate moves to avoid her.
“I was so excited to ride the dolphins,” she said. “They took everyone away… but the dolphins kept shaking no,” when she got in the water to take her turn.
A new mom was frustrated after a dolphin wouldn’t come near her during a vacation excursion — ‘The dolphin kept shaking no.’
After letting multiple people go ahead of her and even changing her bathing suit, the excursion workers started questioning exactly what was deterring the animals. They couldn’t pinpoint what was stressing the dolphins out — so much so that they’d deliberately take off before she could grab onto their fins.
It’s no surprise that dolphins are extremely intelligent animals — from stories of saving struggling humans in the ocean to exhibiting problem-solving skills in controlled environments, they’ve more than proved that they’re complex, emotional, and self-aware.
While marine life activist organizations do condemn their capture for entertainment purposes, ethical means of protecting these animals, like sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers, provide a unique opportunity for humans to observe their behavior.
After trying multiple times and letting multiple people ride the dolphins ahead of her, the excursion owner ultimately brought her out of the water.
After getting in and out of the water several times and trying her best to make the most of the disappointing experience, the new mom was ultimately approached by one of the workers.
Not only did they reveal that the dolphins had sensed something about this woman, but they also revealed that it came down to a specific scent that had drawn them away.
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“We found out the dolphin didn’t want to hurt me,” she said. Being a new mom who was also breastfeeding her baby, the dolphins were able to smell her breastmilk and sense that she was caring for a baby.
With their exceptional sensory perception — allowing them to smell the breast milk — coupled with their ability to detect hormonal shifts and changes in humans, they finally realized the dolphins were afraid to hurt this new mom.
Whether it was because they sensed a baby or because they’ve been shown to have incredible attachments with breastfeeding human mothers, it finally made sense why she wasn’t able to engage with them. “So, I got to learn something new,” she optimistically stated, “and got a personalized experience.”
They revealed the dolphin likely smelled the new mom’s breast milk and sensed she had a baby — ‘It didn’t want to hurt me.’
Pulling her aside for a one-on-one experience, the mom said that the workers gave her both a nugget of knowledge and an incredible experience to remember. Sitting a dolphin in her lap on shallow water, her last video showed her caressing the animal’s back — clearly appreciating their intelligence, care, and love.
“This happened to my friend!” one person added in the comments. “The trainer told her it usually happens when you’re pregnant, and she found out once she got home that she was.”
While her story was initially meant to reflect the humorous change of plans she made on vacation, it’s become a humbling reminder of the empathy, compassion, and intellect so many animals on Earth truly carry.
From birds sending us messages to marine life protecting us from scary situations, they’re just as deserving of respect as the rest of us.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.