Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Richard O'Barry

Quote by Richard O'Barry

“Dolphins work on the reward system,” I explained. “When they’ve had enough to eat, that’s a wrap.” I shrugged. The director eyed me with a frown, and I realized that he was playing a role himself, the role of the stereotypical director. Hollywood is full of them. Bald-headed, short, and heavyset, he had a white moustache and goatee, an electric megaphone, and—of all things—a gold cigarette holder with a 100 mm filter cigarette in it. The only part of his costume missing was a pith helmet, which was probably optional. “Hmmmm,” he said as though musing to himself, “like actors, then.”

Quote by Richard O'Barry

Work

Author

Richard O'Barry

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Richard O'Barry. more

You May Also Like

“Fisher ramped back the engine while I waited, watching as the line of the horizon turned into dots and dashes- and then something slim and black and white lifted out of the water in a soaring arc that looked like nothing but celebration. "Dolphins," I said, laughing. "It's dolphins." Hundreds of them, streaking toward us, faster than our boat could ever go. They overtook us, wave after wave of flashing tails and gleaming backs. For what must have been ten minutes we stood, stunned, as the dolphins flowed around our boat. Finally, the last wave passed and we watched as they traveled on, leaving a foaming white trail for us behind them. "I think we can call that a welcome," Fisher said.”

“There are descriptions of self-mutilations in animals who are locked up in zoos, as well as in laboratory rodents who have been administered stimulating drugs. Cases have also been reported in domestic animals. Some horses, for instance, have shown a tendency to bite themselves, as well as kick and lunge at objects. Among cats and dogs it’s also relatively common to see compulsive self-licking, nibbling, or scratching, which in extreme cases can result in serious injuries… Somewhat more suggestive cases are of dolphins who have supposedly ended their own lives. At least two cases have been reported, both occurring in dolphins who were captured from the wild and held captive in inadequate conditions. One is dolphin Kathy, the “actor” who portrayed Flipper for the longest period of time on the TV series of the same name. The other is Peter, a dolphin from the 1960s led by John Lilly, which involved the psychedelic drug LSD, zoophilia, and attempts on behalf of the experimenters to communicate verbally and telepathically with the dolphins. Both Kathy and Peter ended their own lives by voluntarily stopping breathing, according to the witnesses.”

“Ahead, peeking out from the water, something glistened, the color of silver. Mari knew just what it was. She smacked the oars several times against the water, then—- to amuse the girls—- she feigned surprise as several dolphins appeared either side of the gozzo. They cried in delight as the dolphins surfaced and blew their breath into the air, showering them all with mist. Even Mari laughed; she knew this pod well. They liked to follow the boat a long ways, and she always felt a sense of safety with them so close. When she and Sofia were young, they would lie back and let their hair tumble over the gozzo’s edge. The flash of red against blue caught the dolphins’ attention, and they would nose and nudge their way through the thick masses of hair, playing with it like they might strands of seaweed. Times like that, the sea was not so loathsome.”