Although dolphins are known for being sociable animals and among terrestrial animals, cross-species interactions are not uncommon but Alexander Wilson called the alliance between the dolphin with a spinal malformation and the whales rare, as it has never, to his knowledge, been witnessed before, National Geographic reported.
Wilson thought, “Did the whales adopt the dolphin? Why?”
Ecologists Wilson and Jens Krause of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany observed the group in the ocean surrounding the Azores for eight days as the dolphin traveled, foraged, and played with both the adult whales and their calves.
Marine biologist John Francis, vice president for research, conservation, and exploration at the National Geographic Society said they could also be satisfying a desire for the company of other animals.
Wilson doesn’t believe the dolphin approached the sperm whales for help in protecting itself from predators as there aren’t many dolphin predators in the surrounding waters but Francis did not agree that there was no predator in the lifelong experience of the whales and dolphins frequenting the Azores.
He suggested that it could be just as possible that the sperm whales accepted the dolphin for added protection against their own predators while traveling like the killer whale, Orcinus orca.