"Humans and dolphins may be among the few species that reciprocate a very special emotion, empathy. I have been involved in many rescues of dolphins, some of which have been stranded on beaches. And I am always struck by the way that people rush to help. The impulse to do so is almost primal. There just is something about the presence of dolphins that touches us. At some point during the rescues I usually find myself standing in waist-deep water with at least one other person supporting the distressed animal so that it won't sink and drown, just as I stood with some of my students supporting Gordo in the hours before he died.
"Not so long ago it struck me that what my colleagues and I do in these situations is mirrored by what dolphins sometimes do when they rescue a person in trouble at sea. They stop the person from sinking and drowning by positioning themselves alongside him, one on either side. What a beautiful symmetry of actions. Is there a beautiful symmetry of emotions here too? I do not know. But in the language of science, it seems to me more parsimonious to imagine that, to some degree at least, there is, rather than deny the possibility simply because I don't know.
"The long loneliness that Eiseley spoke about was the idea that humans were special and apart from the rest of the living world, thanks to our sense of self, our capability of conscious altruistic behaviors born from empathy, our reflection and intention. And indeed, if we alone possessed these qualities, it would be a lonely planet. Yet each of these traits is shared with dolphins and some other species as well. We share more than we ever could have imagined with these other minds."
