Do dolphins eat their own young? Is this what is suggested by a reader from Westport? It all arises out of the extract printed here from a book of memoirs Conamara Man by Seamus Ridge. He told for those who may not have read the earlier piece, of being calmed with friends in a curach (his spelling) at the mouth of Galway Bay.
"We decided to anchor. All at once, a dolphin jumped into the curach. Soon other dolphins began to bump our bottom, and one put his head on the gunwale, making strange noises. The one on board began answering with strange moans, shivering as if in pain. Before we knew from heaven what to do, there was a new born beside her gasping for breath. The mother calmed down at once, looking on to see that all was well. We tried to pitch the mother out, and one of us lifted up the baby as if to pitch him out too. Mama dolphin lifted her head to reach him and out they went. A school of dolphins jumping nearby tossed the baby high in the air with their spouts, seeming to enjoy themselves as if celebrating the occasion."
Now for that letter from Westport. Sheila Ryan writes referring to the above bizarre and wonderful story about the dolphin who gave birth in the curragh.
On returning mother and offspring to the sea, your story teller was amazed to observe the other waiting dolphins throwing the infant up into the air. My husband James Ryan of Killary Salmon Farm, with whom you have corresponded, is a keen observer of the school of dolphins that are regularly found in the Killary.
They can be seen following the wild salmon. He has frequently seen them toss their prey up into the air and catch it again, maybe as many as three or four times. . . before devouring it."
It doesn't follow that, when in the original story, the dolphins threw one of their own kind into the air, they were intent on devouring it.
Or were they? It may simply have been horseplay, exuberance.
Yet, it is said that dolphins, away from human contact and dolphinariums can be fierce. Anyway, there's the letter, there's the question mark.