Why do dolphins swim in front of a boat?
In: 17
Imagine you’re riding your scooter down the street, and you see a smooth ramp that gives you a fun and easy ride. Dolphins swimming in front of boats is similar to that.
When a boat moves through the water, it creates waves. The dolphins like to swim in front of the boat because they can ride these waves, called the “bow wave.” It’s like a fun game for them, called “bow-riding.” Riding the waves saves them energy and lets them travel faster with less effort, just like you riding your scooter down the ramp. It’s also a way for dolphins to socialize and play together. So, dolphins swim in front of boats because it’s fun, easy, and helps them hang out with their friends
Dolphins are essentially drafting boats in reverse. When the dolphin swims through the water (or anything going through a fluid e.g. jet fling through air) it creates an area of high pressure in front of it as the water tries to go around, and an area of low pressure as the water needs to fill the void behind the dolphin that it once displaced. The boat fills the void behind the dolphin essentially giving the dolphin a free speed boost.
They’re surfing. That’s all. From the videos I’ve seen, they appear to be having fun/playing. But it would also be a good way to conserve energy…
Lots of others said, They surf, and they *LLOOVVEE* it, and when they get the right wave, they can do it at little to NO energy consumption, its playing, and its SOCIAL for them.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYTyE3dO84](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYTyE3dO84)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U08-enQa5cI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U08-enQa5cI)
In this one, The dolphin as you can see, is not even putting any effort with its Fluke (Left and right flaps of the tail), its RIDING the wave. The boat doing about 25 to 30kph and the dolphin is not even trying to move, its SURFING the bow of the boat.
[https://youtu.be/mmGIJSShpnQ?t=131](https://youtu.be/mmGIJSShpnQ?t=131)
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