Dolphin Predators

But dolphins are kind of like the pretty girl in the alley who carries a big gun – just more trouble than it’s worth. Predators generally learn to steer clear of dolphin pods. Like elephants, dolphins will circle protectively around the weak members of the pod, and viciously attack anything that approaches in a threatening manner. And they can kill sharks. Most predators take one look, and then just swim away.

Sharks and Other Ocean Predators

Dolphins don’t worry a lot about being eaten. In general, their only real predator is the shark, and even then only the larger species of shark. Dolphins have evolved over the millennia to be pretty tough, though, so in general even sharks stay away from them.

Dolphin parts have also been found in the bellies of killer whales, who will eat just about anything. Whether this means the orca scavenged the dolphin or actually hunted it down is unknown.

The Most Dangerous Predator

As with most edible species today, the most dangerous predator by far is man. For long years of human history, dolphin was generally taboo as a source of protein because of their gentleness and the stories that they rescued distressed

sailors, or that they were inhabited by the souls of dead sailors. But as time moves forward and people lose access to charming stories, dolphins are more and more being threatened.

Worse, dolphins that are killed today are often not destroyed because they taste good; rather, they prey on the same fish species that humans eat. Many fishermen kill dolphins specifically because they think cetaceans ruin their catch.

But there are many countries that eat cetaceans in general, including dolphins. In Japan, the meat of a number of dolphin species is seen as a delicacy, and can fetch upwards of US$25 a pound. In Peru and many other Latin American countries where the ocean has been largely depleted of fish through overfishing or due to environmental conditions such as El Nino, fishermen have turned to catching dolphins and porpoises to sell in fish markets. And in many fishing areas such as the Faero Islands, the killing and eating of cetaceans including dolphins is a longstanding cultural tradition.

Tragically, the largest group of dolphins killed by man are those killed by accident or incidentally during large-scale fishing operations. Drift nets are unbreakable nets set adrift to catch whatever swims their way – sort of like oceangoing traps. Dolphins and other cetaceans that swim into these nets become entangled and die of drowning when they can’t surface, or tear off parts of their body in their struggles to escape. And in tuna fishing, fishermen have found that tuna swim beneath dolphin in great numbers – so they herd dolphins with explosions and helicopters, dropping a huge net down beneath the pod when they stop in exhaustion to scoop up dolphins and tuna alike. Though the surviving dolphins are released, it’s estimated that a minimum of 30 million dolphins have been killed in this way since observations began in the 1960s.