In 1985 I began a long-term project in the Bahamas to observe and study, underwater, a resident group of Atlantic spotted dolphins, Stenella frontalis. The richness of behavior we've observed over 16 years at sea speaks of a culture of intelligent aquatic beings, with complex communication and flexible coping strategies in the world.
Dolphins are the aquatic equivalent of an advanced terrestrial culture.
Such observations reinforce the idea that perhaps dolphins would be good candidates with the motivation to interact with, and potentially communicate with humans. A mother and her calves. The possibility of communicating with nonhuman animals has long fascinated humans as long ago as Aristotle. The more we inquire into the lives and minds of dolphins, and other toothed whales, the more we find evidence of complex societies, communication, and cultures. Only recently have we begun to search in the wild for such evidence and opportunities to work.