Dolphins are renowned for their intelligence.
So, does that mean that they have very intelligent sex?
Spoiler alert.
It sort of does.
But they also have a dark side.
Oh, God!
Why didn't anyone give me any warning?
Why is that swimmer so close?
This is all types of wrong.
So, yeah. Dolphin sex.
Often males will actually form little co-operative groups
in which they sort of kidnap females
until she becomes ''receptive'' to the advances,
and they can be quite forceful in that activity.
That is a pretty amazing video
because you can see a dolphin penis.
I never thought I'd say that.
Dolphins don't have a breeding season.
They breed basically all year
and a dolphin erection can happen basically instantaneously
because sex when it happens for dolphins
is very quick, like seconds long.
So, he needs to be ready when the opportunity arises.
Do those swimmers realise what they're witnessing?
(LAUGHS)
Oh, it was so amazing.
We went out snorkeling and the dolphins were just playing.
Turns out they were masturbating.
Dolphins are smart and will have sex
for other reasons apart from procreation.
And there certainly seems to be some behaviours
in dolphins around the world which indicate
that they do things for pleasure
and this could be one of them.
It looks as if they're doing a nice bit of a wriggle
on something that feels nice on their nether regions down there.
OK, it appears to have a sea sponge
that it looks like it's carrying along.
So I think what could be happening here is gift giving.
The male has a sea sponge.
Now, he's probably ripped that off the ocean floor.
And you have to be big and strong to do that.
Sexy, isn't it?
But also, when you show how big and strong you are
to someone that you're trying to mate with,
it could also be an act of aggression.
So he's saying, ''I'm big and strong so you better mate with me.''
Oh, wow. So, we've got some belly to belly copulation going on.
How romantic.
Now, they're getting their neighbours involved.
Oh, wow!
Oh, God. It's a swinger's party.
Each species has their preferred positioning.
These are spinner dolphins, and their preferred
mating position is belly to belly as they go along.
Ooh! Wow.
I've never seen a video of this before.
Ooh!
The baby just came out.
Oh, my God. Look how vigorous it is.
Dolphin females give birth in shallow water
where it's sort of nice and warm.
And they'll often be accompanied by
other female dolphins who act as midwives.
So, if the mother exhausts herself during the birthing process,
the midwives can actually scoop up the baby
and lift it to the surface so that it can breathe.
There are humans in there, which indicates to me
that this is probably in an enclosure,
that they're not wild dolphins.
Keeping in mind that putting a dolphin in a pen,
even if it is on the ocean side,
is something like 200,000 times smaller
than its range in the wild.
And it's really bad for their physical and mental health.
Yeah.
OK. So, the dolphin is harassing a human.
This is the moment I was waiting for.
Dolphins are incredibly social creatures
and when they find themselves
on the outer edges of dolphin society,
that can be for a number of reasons.
It may be because they're not quite right
to fit in with society.
It may be that they're in a pen.
But it can lead to all sorts of funny things,
like dolphins fixating on humans
as objects for sexual gratification.
This is actually a really dangerous position
for these humans to be in.
Sexual behaviour is interlinked
with aggressive behaviour in dolphins.
And I actually spoke with a wildlife photographer
called Michael who had it happen to him.
Basically, I spend a lot of time on the Arctic
in the water with whale, sharks, dolphins.
So, I look around and he was literally hanging,
hanging next to me
less than an arm's length with his eye looking into my eye.
But then he started literally charging us.
And I also felt one of my ankles was being restrained,
which I just couldn't figure out what's happening.
Something is pulling my leg.
It was very tight.
How to get away from. Similarly at home,
you know, uploaded the videos that I saw like,
''Oh... yep!'' (LAUGHS)
That was it.
If he says, ''No, you can't descend.''
It's just a mass on top of you and it's blocking you.
If you could go up a little bit, he would just pull you down again.
Near the end, it was getting nasty.
The problem here is not the dolphin because that's just
one of the quadrillion, whatever, animals in the ocean.
The problem is this the interaction with humans
or humans interacting with, ''Oh, look how cute - a dolphin.''
That's the issue.
We go into their environment.
It's not the other way around.
It's not our ocean, it's their ocean.
Yeah, Michael's experience sounds absolutely terrifying.
I mean, being pushed down in the water to the bottom
of the ocean is pretty much the stuff of nightmares.
It's hard to accept that dolphins aren't just cute and cuddly.
When it comes to their sex life,
it really is an example of how they're wild animals
and they really do benefit from being in the open ocean,
being wild and free without human interference.
And I have to say that this is one case
where I'll happily be in the friendzone.