Nature, that divine creation that provides us with everything necessary to live, gives us not only food, but also a great many of resources of fauna and flora that have wonderful faculties that man has been discovering little by little and incorporating to his life to protect himself from harmful elements, such as diseases, which are often congenital and others are caused by the environment and by man himself.
In this context, effective alternatives emerge to treat these diseases or alterations of health through animals, such as dogs, horses or dolphins that provide benefits to the physical and emotional health of children and adults around the world. Considering the importance of the subject, we have selected dolphin therapy to bring you summarized and concrete information about this therapeutic alternative that has given wonderful results in different countries.
Let’s start by referring to some interesting data about dolphins, these beautiful and picturesque water mammals which prove to be very sociable and intelligent and are approximately 2 to 9 meters long, which varies according to the species. They are basically characterized by having an elongated nose and a large head, but especially by the famous breathing hole called spiracle, which is located on the top of their head, which allows them to breathe and communicate through their known whistles that are called “clicks” and are the mode of expression and communication between them and which varies in frequency of “clicks” according to the species.
Dolphins are considered very happy and affectionate animals, loved by children and adults, and which have become famous in amusement parks around the world because of the shows they are able to perform; but their charm and intelligence were projected on the small screen in the famous television series “Flipper”, in which a dolphin with this name was the main character that managed to monopolize the audience of the series produced by IvanTors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television not only in the United States but throughout the world, remaining on the air from September 19, 1964 until April 15, 1967. However, there have been many repetitions in many countries of the world over the decades.
On the other hand, dolphins have a special organ called “melon”, which is located on the top of their head and acts as radar that gives them a sense called “echolocation”, which makes the process of location in the marine space easier to be able to hunt for their food, which consists mostly of fish and squid rations.
However, this natural process in dolphins called echolocation is defined as a capacity that occurs only in some marine mammals with teeth, such as dolphins, sperm whales, porpoises and orcas or terrestrial mammals such as bats, which allows them to find their preys in the depth of the sea through the exploration of the environment, taking advantage of the great adaptation of their brain and the fact that sound travels 4.5 times faster in water than in air, thus being able to analyse the entire complex information that comes through the echoes.
They usually do this process of location in groups, and hunt as a team because they are very social animals using very complex forms of orientation and communication, using their voice and body to vocalize, dance and jump, grouping to form enormous habitats of individuals that can reach approximately a thousand, which establish very strong social ties, both with their blood family and with other individuals of the group which they belong to.
Another outstanding aspect of dolphins is the fact that their aerodynamic bodies and soft skin allow them to reach great speeds in the water, besides that these wonderful and dynamic beings are always in movement, getting to swim daily up to 40 miles and being able to hold their breath for up to 20 minutes, so they remain on the surface only 10 to 20% of their time, in addition to diving to depths of more than 500 meters or 1,640 feet.
On the other hand, they are considered as the only animals that have sex not only to reproduce, but for pleasure apart from the human being and primates; and once pregnant, the gestation period of the offspring depends on each species: for example, the Amazon dolphin takes 11 months to give birth, while the killer whale takes 17 months to bring its offspring to the world. It should be noted that only one offspring is born at each birth.
Now, let’s talk about the famous “click” of these kind beings, which they generate inside their nasal sacs located behind the cranial melon, acting as a kind of lens that allows the focus of sound to a fine signal which is projected in front of the animal, thus producing a radar, as stated above, and whose frequency is higher than the sounds they use to communicate. In this way, when the sound hits an object, part of the energy of the sound is reflected back to the dolphin, whose skull where the melon is located, receives the echo, and the fatty tissue transmits the sound to the brain.
Once the echo is emitted as a message, the dolphin receives it generating another click in a communicational process of transmission and reception of messages so perfect that they could give master classes to human beings. The time lapse between click and click and echo allows the dolphin to evaluate the distance between it and the object, and the variation of the acoustic signal received by the dolphin allows it to evaluate the direction where the object is located.
Therefore, dolphins are always receiving sound waves and emitting clicks, thanks to the fact that their echolocation system is extremely sensitive, being able to perform in very noisy environments, with an incredible capacity to perform complex tasks simultaneously, such as locating near and far objects at the same time, or whistling and ecolocalizing at the same time, a condition that makes them become an excellent alternative to perform therapies with children.
These therapies with dolphins are called “dolphin therapies”, and it is a treatment aimed at adults and especially boys and girls who need to improve their psycho-emotional, cognitive and even motor skills, based on the positive influence of contact and interaction between people and these so wonderful, sociable and intelligent animals, in a water environment that makes motor and play activation easier.
It should be noted that many investigations conducted with respect to dolphin therapy, the possible beneficial effects, and the way in which this process of interaction and communication between the species is carried out, places it within the most effective alternatives that provide neuro-stimulating conditions to the individual, which makes interaction easier due to the emission of ultrasonic waves that dolphins make, whose high frequency and diverse amplitude comes through their echolocation system, which they take advantage of to communicate thanks to the sound messages that reach their brains and then they turn into images.
This way, this interaction between people and dolphins first produces an effect of effective stimulation which creates the right environment to overcome psychological and emotional deficiencies, both by contact with this wonderful animal and the water environment that is an element that favours the therapy. Consequently, the process explained above encourages a novel encounter with an intense emotional content which makes the brain produce new neuronal connections, gradually changing as the sessions increase.
In addition, experts in the field point out that the ultrasonic waves of echolocation work by influencing the hypothalamus, which can produce improvements in emotional state, sleep, appetite and weight, as well as behavioural, intellectual, learning and memory changes, reducing stress, tension and the fear of children or the improvement of the nervous system, etc.
That is why dolphin therapy can be used to treat adults and children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stress, psychomotor difficulties, drug addiction, alcoholism, Rett syndrome, stroke, hypertension, microcephaly, spina bifida and schizophrenia during sessions whose periodicity can vary between about 35 to 45 minutes for approximately fifteen days, which could be prolonged according to the case treated and the needs of the patient, considering the rest period established by the specialist.
However, it should also be noted that there are some ethical controversies about dolphin therapy, which are based on the opposition to dolphins’ captivity that takes them away from their natural environment, to the point that some organizations have defined dolphinarium as “prisons for dolphins”, where these therapies are carried out; and although they can be done in the open sea, it is not convenient because there is not always access to dolphins and it is very difficult to control the sessions.
In conclusion, dolphin therapy offers the opportunity for many children, as well as adults, to work their emotional part through contact with these wonderful beings by their sounds, movements, and even with the touch of their soft skin since they allow being touched easily, because they have a high level of sociability that makes interaction and communication with human beings easier, reaching amazing results from a psychological, social and emotional point of view and achieving significant advances in the control of autism, Down syndrome, stress, and even in those suffering from cerebral palsy and schizophrenia.
ALFA