Eighteen people have been injured this summer in a seaside town in Japan by what is likely to be a solitary dolphin that has been separated from its pod.
A dolphin thought to be responsible for nearly 50 attacks on humans in recent years may be lashing out because it is lonely, experts have said.
There have been 18 attacks on swimmers at a seaside town in southern Japan since 21 July, all believed to have been carried out by the same male bottlenose dolphin according to NBC, Sky’s US partner, quoting Japanese broadcaster NHK.
The attacks have consistently involved a single dolphin that appears to be on its own, which is unusual as bottlenose dolphins are a highly social species that stick closely together in pods.
NBC quoted Tadamichi Morisaka from the Cetacean Research Center at Japan’s Mie University who has seen photographs from the incidents in Mihama.
Mr Morisaka, who is part of the Dolphin Communication Project, told NBC it’s unusual for bottlenose dolphins of this kind to approach people at all, let alone bite them.
This one appears to have got used to interacting with people after doing it for several years.
He said the bites appear to be playful, suggesting the dolphin “mainly wants to interact with humans”, rather than attack or harm them.
But because dolphins have lots of sharp teeth, even a gentle bite can cause injury to humans.
Swimmers in the area are now being warned to get out of the water if they see a dolphin.