Aurora's Hunt

Aurora was barely a year old, but she was ready to hunt. Only recently has she begun to look like the other Northern right whale dolphins around her with her streamlined white belly and dark top. She wanted to feel more ready for this.

“You have to stay close,” Mom said. Aurora was okay with that. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was nervous. Hadn’t Mom’s friend just drowned after swimming into a fishing net doing exactly this?

“Don’t worry,” Mom said, nuzzling her. “You’ve hunted before at the surface. You know how to do this. Trust yourself.”

Aurora wanted to ask how to trust yourself to do something you’ve never done before, but instead she eyed the darkness below. Was the ocean always so dark? She didn’t remember it being so dark.

“We don’t dive for long. Follow the pod and surface when we do.”

Aurora nodded.

“Ready?”

She was as ready as she’d ever be.

She pushed herself to the surface and took a deep breath.

Heart hammering, she dove.

Her pod swam before her in a huge array of dolphins. 153 belonged to her pod, and she knew them all by name. She busied herself by bouncing the sound from her melon to those closest to her: Polaris, Lissy, Boreo. She could tell who they were just by the noises they made. She started to relax. Her Mom nudged her with a smile. See? I told you that you’d be fine.

Smaller shapes began to materialize in her echo: fish. Better yet: food.

The pod before her descended on the school of hake, gobbling them up with such precision that Aurora was baffled. For a moment she could only watch in awe.

Her tummy grumbled. She shook herself out of her stupor and dove deeper into the madness looking for her own fish. She could see many fish that were sized perfectly for her small frame, but other dolphins kept getting to them first.

She closed her eyes and focused.

With her echo, she could sense the pod around her zipping through the school. Aurora noticed how they bolted at the fish and clamped their jaws down quickly before darting to the next one. They all looked so skilled.

Aurora opened her eyes and used her echo to find a small hake about 50 feet in front of her. She could do it. She had to do it. She was running out of breath and she was very hungry.

She propelled herself forward, feeling the water rush by her fins and body. She was 30 feet away. 20. 10.

This isn’t just food, she thought, this is fun!

She opened her mouth and slammed into the fish with such force that she surprised herself. But she got it.

And it was delicious.

She savored the moment with her eyes closed.

She could feel the water grow quieter. She opened her eyes to see the pod begin their ascent. She followed quietly behind for a moment before speeding ahead of them all. She was far too excited to wait patiently at the back.

Up, up, up and - SHOOO - the water jetted away from her body as she broke the surface and - SPLASH - landed with joy back into the water.

Mom had surfaced near her and she laughed at Aurora’s happiness. “You did well, Aurora!” she sang. “In fact, so well that I think you deserve to play. Guess who’s here?”

Out of the blue came the familiar face of her best friend, Stripe. She was almost Aurora’s age but had the distinctive markings of the rest of her pod of white-sided dolphins who had come to join Aurora’s pod in a hunt. Aurora was overjoyed to see her, even if their pods met to hunt several times a week.

“Stripe! It’s so good to see you. Guess what?!” Aurora chirped as she porpoised to her friend.

“What?!” Stripe said.

“I caught my first fish!”

“That’s amazing!” Stripe said. She cocked her head. “I’ll race you for the next one!”

The two dolphins danced together for a moment at the surface before they descended for food once again with the pods.

This time, Aurora was ready.