We had understood for a long, long time that dolphins were among the most skillful and intelligent mammals known to science; in fact, the small protagonist of this beautiful story is a Sousa dolphin named Mystique, whose intelligent behavior surprised the staff of the nature reserve where this animal lives.
Mystique is 29 years old and lives free in Tin Can Bay Nature Reserve in Queensland , Australia. In this reserve, the dolphins are used to the presence of tourists who give them, guided by volunteers from the Barnacles Dolphin Center and the Dolphin Feeding Center, very delicious marine food. But despite everything, Mystique is not a dolphin-like all the others …
Mystique brings “as a gift” to tourists who offer them food real treasures from the bottom of the ocean : from seashells in the most varied shapes to beautiful corals, to glass bottles preserved in the seabed belonging to eras. distant. The volunteers call him a real “treasure hunter”.
Lyn McPherson, one of the Australian reserve volunteers, says that even during the months when the nature park was closed to tourists, the treasure hunter activity never ceased and, despite this behavior which was not taught by humans, they know that Mystique has always been a very generous dolphin.
In fact, Lyn McPherson said, ” He carries things up on his nose or in his beak, and then he gently gives them to us . But if he drops them while he’s still too far away, he is told it is not. ‘is not enough, so he picks them up and brings them back more ready “.
In short, Mystique is a truly unique Sousa dolphin in the world; not only is he very generous to the human beings who feed him, but he “returns the favor” by cleaning the ocean floor of old antiquities from who knows what era and bringing back corals and seashells to the shore. of extraordinary beauty.
