Can a Dolphin Really Commit Rape?
Nature is “red in tooth and claw,” as Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote in the poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” In that now-famous line, Tennyson was considering, pre-Darwin, the apparent callousness of nature. Humans alone are capable of cruelty, and sexual coercion and rape are immoral and criminal acts. Dolphin is a loose and informal name for several different groups of cetaceans, including the Delphinidae (ocean dolphins) and three classes that live in rivers or estuaries (Indian, New World, and brackish).
