Meet Mr. Porpoise - Ceta-Base

tivity, they were also found to be curious about a
human swimming underwater with them. In the short
training period they learned to come over and take
fish from such a person's hand. Within a short time
after, they also learned to take food from the hand
of a diver walking on the bottom in a shoulder helmet.
The original young porpoise, in fact, frequently annoyed
the diver when he was going about his daily
window cleaning duties, by playfully nibbling at his
feet.
This young one was also keen about playing with
any human, whether a stranger or not, and would
come to the surface and gently nibble a hand which
was offered to her. The young one also delighted in
being scratched on the belly, and would repeatedly
come back and roll on her side at the surface for more.
Partially deflated rubber balls were kept in the tank
solely for the amusement of the young porpoise. She
would grab the ball in her mouth, pull it below water
and release it. Her eyes intensely followed the ball as
These two porpoises learned to eat from a plate but al
ways took the food below water to swallow it. They swallow
fish without chewing, head-first. The minute openings
it rose to the surface and bounded out of water. Many
other objects in the tank excited the curiosity of the
young porpoise, including turtles of all sizes from 25
to 300 pounds. The young one was noted on several
occasions to tip a 50 pound loggerhead turtle up, so
that its body lay in a vertical plane, and push it com-
pletely across the tank at the end of her snout.
The baby's playfulness, however, was her undoing.
In the early fall of 1938, two manatees were placed
in the tank—an adult female and her young nursing
offspring. The manatees tamed quickly, and soon
learned to come to the surface to eat eel grass from
the hand of the keeper. On these occasions the two
porpoises, particularly the young ones, would butt the
manatees persistently, until they retreated. The
young one carried this jealous activity even further
and would take eel grass from the mouth of the young
manatee and streak across the tank shaking the grass
throughout the water with a sidewise motion of her
head.
behind the eye are the rudiments of the ear opening. They
are scarcely large enough to permit the entrance of a
toothpick
Plwto by V/m. F. Gerecke