In an absolutely heart-shattering video, a mother dolphin is shown holding on to her deceased baby calf in the Indian Shores. As she swims around in obvious grief, she refuses to let go of her baby calf.
See Through Canoe, a canoe-maker, and Twitter user post the video online. “Mother #dolphin not ready to let go of her dead calf and pushing it through the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s hard to say for sure without examination, but the calf may have been hit by a boat. Please don’t assume that because #dolphins are fast that you won’t hit them,” the company said in the tweet.
After the mother begins the funeral procession for her child, another dolphin is shown staying by her side throughout the footage. At various parts of the footage, you can see the mother disappear underwater, only to return back to the surface again a few moments later, carrying the baby.
Since the footage was posted earlier this week, it has gained steadfast attention throughout. While we often think of animals as not having complex emotions like ourselves, the fact of the matter is that they do actually have very intense and deep emotions, and they most definitely do grieve.
Mother #dolphin not ready to let go of her dead calf and pushing it through the intracoastal waterway.
It’s hard to say for sure without examination, but the calf may have been hit by a boat. Please don’t assume that because #dolphins are fast that you won’t hit them. #sad pic.twitter.com/Le2MAwvPIB— See Through Canoe (@SeeThroughCanoe) June 3, 2019
Image via The Dodo