Lexi Yeo thought dolphins were
friendly creatures until swimming
with them changed her mind forever.
Out of nowhere,
an aggressive bottlenose dolphin
started to bite her,
and then another one joined the attack.
They tried to drag her underwater.
It wasn’t a fair fight,
and the odds were against the little girl
since she needed to keep her head
above water to keep breathing.
Could she fight them off
until help arrived?
Dolphins are often perceived as smiling,
cute marine creatures that won’t
hurt a fly.
But like many other large mammals,
if they attack they can badly hurt humans.
And trust me, they’re big.
Bottlenose dolphins
can grow almost 4 m (13.1 ft) long
and weigh up to 200 kg (442 lb).
Today we put together a list of people
who have faced the wrath
of these marine creatures
and survived to tell
their incredible stories.
In July 2014,
a man was enjoying a summer swim
on the coast of Ireland
when suddenly he felt something
pushing him underwater aggressively.
When he realized
it was a bottlenose dolphin
lashing out at him,
he was shocked.
The confrontational creature
launched at him one more time
with its tail,
trying to pull him underneath
the water again.
The man didn’t sustain any serious injuries,
but he was lucky to survive
being drowned
by one of these
massive mammals.
Dolphins might have smiling faces,
but that’s just the way their jawline is.
They are not inviting you to touch them
or come too close.
The lesson here is never to swim
with a dolphin in the wild
since it’s highly likely that it could
attack without provocation.
Instead of looking for their smiles,
you should be looking for
signs of aggression.
But if you want to know what those look like,
you'll have to stick around
for our number one story.
Let’s go back to Lexi’s story.
The two mammals turned her
vacation in Cancun, Mexico
into a nightmare
by gnawing at the 10-year-old,
then rammed at her.
Lexi was terrified and screamed for help.
Then the already bloody attack got worse
as both dolphins continued
to drag her underwater.
Some trainers at the closed sea pen
told the animals to stop,
but they continued their attack.
As Lexi’s mom watched the vicious attack,
she was afraid that her daughter
was going to die.
Lexi kept ahold of a bodyboard,
and it helped her keep afloat
until a trainer pulled her out of the water.
She suffered cuts,
bruises
and puncture wounds
in her legs and feet,
but she survived
because she did the right thing.
She held onto an object
that could keep her afloat
and she held on until a trainer
helped her to safety.
If you think this attack was extreme,
wait until you hear the next one.
On a summer evening in 2014,
Valerie Ryan decided to go for a swim
off the coast of County Clare, Ireland.
She saw a woman playing with Dusty,
a well-known dolphin
that inhabits the waters.
The mammal was happily enjoying
belly rubs from the woman,
so Valerie thought it would be OK
to join the fun.
But when Valerie entered the water,
Dusty came at her.
At first,
Valerie thought it was just a display
but when she felt the angry dolphin's
snout plow into her,
she knew it was a vicious attack.
She swam to the pier,
but her injuries were so painful
that she couldn’t get out of the water.
She screamed for help,
and a man reached out his hand
to help her out of the water.
The hospital staff discovered that
Valerie had six spinal fractures,
three broken ribs
and a damaged lung.
Even a year after the incident,
she needed physiotherapy treatments
to help reduce the remaining pain.
Valerie survived because she was able
to identify
that the dolphin's flapping tail
was a sign of aggression
and she took the right decision
to get out of the water immediately.
Incredibly,
all these people survived
brutal attacks by dolphins.
But there are far
bigger threats out there
when it comes to marine creatures.
Do you think anyone could survive
being swallowed by a whale?
Find out here
on How to Survive.