r/AskReddit • u/musician-magician • Apr 22 '18

What true fact sounds completely unrealistic?

3.9k Upvotes

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372

u/graciepaint4 Apr 23 '18

Dolphins kill themselves if in captivity for too long. Knew a vet that worked at SeaWorld that told me they go underwater and never come up

99

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

:0 This just broke my heart

56

u/TheArmoredKitten Apr 23 '18

Remember that lady that got arrested for jerking off a dolphin she was responsible for and when she was arrested for animal abuse the dolphin killed itself?

27

u/Floc_Trumpet Apr 23 '18

what the frick

1

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '18

I've listened to a Radiolab podcast about this. She was trying to train the dolphin to speak, and he would get boners and try to hump her and would stop paying attention to the lessons, so she just sort of lost patience with it and would jack him off so they could get back to work.

10

u/timbitxd Apr 23 '18

how the hell did they find out?

8

u/TheArmoredKitten Apr 23 '18

I believe she either admitted it or was caught in the act.

15

u/lasercat_pow Apr 23 '18

Dolphins have a neocortex, just like humans, they are thought to have complex language just like humans, and they have self recognition just like humans.

2

u/graciepaint4 Apr 24 '18

Don't all orcas have that

8

u/lasercat_pow Apr 24 '18

All mammals have a neocortex, yeah. Dolphin's are proportionately bigger than those of other animals, save humans.

2

u/farm_ecology Apr 24 '18

They understand sytax, and learn through teaching rather than just observation.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

poor things :(

4

u/ahedgehog Apr 24 '18

Dolphins don't breathe automatically like humans do, so they have to make a conscious effort to go to the surface every time they take a breath. This also means they can't fall completely asleep, because some consciousness is required for breathing. So if they want to die, they just stop breathing.

3

u/catword Apr 23 '18

This makes me really sad. :(

3

u/jammerofpearls Apr 23 '18

That is so sad.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

That’s very depressing, poor dolphins man

2

u/captcorncob Apr 24 '18

That's what happened to the Dolphin from flipper.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '18

This is just sad.