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Have dolphins actually saved people from imminent death?
John Clark, St. Louis, MO

Looks like someone’s got a Flipper fetish! “This reputation of bottle-nosed dolphins is something that comes from Hollywood and cultural folklore,” insists Trevor Spradlin, a marine mammal biologist with the NOAA Fisheries Service. In fact, there have been multiple cases of the squeaky sea mammals attacking humans. In1994, off the coast of Brazil, a provoked dolphinrammed a man in the stomach, which led to his severely embarrassing death. “Dolphins are just like any other wild animal. For everyone’s protection, it’s against federal law to feed or harass dolphins in the wild,” warns Spradlin. Guess we’ll have to stop dangling interns smothered in tuna oil over “Snuggles” the office porpoise. Sigh.