Craving human attention, dolphins bring gifts for volunteers feeding them

COVID-19 pandemic has restricted people inside their homes, whereas nature is taking this sweet time to revive itself. Owing to the Coronavirus outbreak, most of the countries imposed lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. All this while, there have been news coming from all the quarters regarding sightings of rare animals, including wild animals wandering in cities. The latest news that has been breaking the internet is that of a pod of dolphins in Australia that has been bringing gifts to the volunteers who feed them.

Dolphins, known for their communication and social skills, are often considered to be the second most intelligent after humans. This pod of dolphins has now displayed this intelligence aspect in quite a surprising manner. Reportedly, they have been bringing adorable gifts from the sea for the volunteers at the Barnacles Dolphin Centre in Queensland. The restaurant recently shared the visuals on their Facebook page, and stated that this has become a daily affair with the dolphins bringing regular gifts to the shore.
With the Coronavirus outbreak keeping the tourists at bay, the pod has been bringing items, from sea shells to corals, for volunteers at the feeding centre. As per volunteer Lyn McPherson, this behaviour shows how much these dolphins have been missing public attention and interaction.

The volunteers also added that one male dolphin, named Mystic, brings those objects on his rostrum or beak, which the dolphin carefully then presents to them. In return, the volunteers give them a fish. Regarding this, the volunteer added, “We haven’t trained him, but he has trained us to do this.”
The gift items that the dolphins bring for the volunteers include bottles, sea shells, corals, bits of wood and timber, among other things. Ms McPherson added that Mystique at times showers them with around 10 items a day, thereby convincing the volunteers that he has a stash of gifts hidden away.