Steinhard Dolphins Don't Like Rock,
But Swim to Bach

By Lynn Ludlow, San Francisco Examiner Staff Writer

The San Francisco Examiner
Sunday, August 19, 1979

Hypothesis: Dolphis are said to be highly intelligent, with big brainpans and acute hearing. Therefore, they may respond to the music of humans.
     Experiment A  - Recorded music of Pink Floyd, the popular British rock band becomes a thundering herd in the dolphin tank at Steinhart Aquarium.
     Amphitrite and Theotis, the resident dolphins, react with porpoiseful indifererence.
     Chis Johnson, who handled this test while a student last spring at the University of California at Santa Cruz, tells aquarium staffers that the response to Pink Floyd was negligible. She is just as disappointed when the dolphins later ignore a string bass thumped with out visible effect.
     Dolphins don't boogie.
                                                      * * *
     Experiment B - After the unexpected flop of Pink Floyd (possibly through a failure in amplification) rock is replaced by Bach.
     The dolphins halt in mid-water. They exchange a few chirps.
     Then they begin to swim in a synchronized whirl that could, perhaps, maybe, be construed as a delphinic ballet.
     Conclusion: The evidence is incomplete, but it's not inconceivable that dolphins have excellent taste.