International Journal of Comparative Psychology

Since 1985, a well-studied community of free ranging Atlantic spotted dolphins, Stenella frontalis, and bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, has been observed underwater in the Bahamas. Over this period, the dolphins have become habituated to human swimmers. Long-term underwater observations revealed that some of these dolphins engaged in play behavior using man-made and natural objects in the presence of humans, and allowed humans to interact with them during play. We investigated the dolphins’ play behaviors in response to a more formal two-way communication interface from 1997-2000. Spotted dolphins were exposed to an underwater keyboard in which visual and acoustic symbols represented the objects the dolphins were observed playing with. Objects could be obtained and played with by indicating the appropriate associated symbol. Pointing and triadic gaze between human participants was used to model the system in the presence of dolphins. Our results indicated that human use of the system encouraged the dolphins to attend to activity at the keyboard. Female juveniles, especially six main individuals, were the main players. Dolphins increased their normal levels of associations with certain conspecifics during exposure sessions and also took dominant roles during sessions in the presence of certain conspecifics. Dolphin age class, sex, and levels of synchronization with humans all contributed to the success and level of engagement during exposure sessions between humans and dolphins.