I am taking a social sabbatical. Starting this evening, I […]

I am taking a social sabbatical. Starting this evening, I will be entirely off social media for a month (no posting, commenting, or even logging in) to see how it feels and what I discover. If I come back, I’ll let you know how it went. =) When my daughter heard this, she was beaming and said: “You could spend more time with the family! Every time you feel like going to facebook, you could push me on the swing.” Melts my heart.

So let me depart with a peaceful post on the emotional reverb of dolphins, in their social media. They are my muse: “Dolphins have a massive new brain area, the paralimbic lobe, that humans do not possess. The paralimbic lobe is an outgrowth of the cingulate gyrus, which is known to elaborate social communication and social emotions in all other mammals. Thus, dolphins may have social thoughts and feelings that we can only vaguely imagine.” (Steven Johnson, Mind Wide Open, p.225.)

My buddy Erik brought the family out to snorkel with an enormous pod of spinner dolphins off the Kona coast. They sleep by day, shutting down one side of their brain and operating with the other. They swim much slower than at night, and they can stay under water for a longer time than usual (lower metabolism). In this half-asleep state, I can keep up with them in the water, and I find them frequently formation-flying in pairs. I wonder what it is like to operate on half a brain?

The ship captain had been a commercial fisherman for 20 years prior, and he had amazing stories to tell, sometimes surreal. He fishes for tuna, and the dolphins started to protect the tuna by surrounding the bait and blocking access to the dangerous fishing lure. Why? Both animals like to eat squid (which are their main source of hydration) and they attack from above and below in a flanking attack, much like the dolphins do with bait balls with the pelicans above. So the dolphins have befriended the tuna, and they protect their less intelligent hunting partners.

Underwater video compilation:https://youtu.be/wy21JD-tb5w

And from above, by Boat: https://youtu.be/2WN1TvejNv8