ABSTRACT
This chapter describes human—dolphin encounters as an interspecies communication system that forms the interactional context in which the emotional experiences are to be understood. Sometimes one hears about a new human species (Homo delphinus) which is said to be shaped by the growing intimacy of the human—dolphin relationships all over the world. Many human—dolphin encounters may be read under the rhetoric of revelation. The chapter provides an ethnographic description of enchanted human—dolphin encounters. A feature of enchanted human—dolphin encounters is the fact that people succeed in interpreting the dolphin’s behaviour as responses to their own behaviour, feelings or emotions. A kind of human—dolphin interaction is play. Eye contact is probably a powerful signal in human—dolphin communication as well. In occidental discourses about dolphins, the patterns of human—dolphin interaction and communication are constructed as special attributes of the dolphins. What is perceived or experienced during the encounter is ascribed to the dolphin.
