JoJo is a male Atlantic
Bottlenose Dolphin. Dean and JoJo first met in 1984
during Dean's first visit to the Turks and Caicos
Islands in the British West Indies. There are only
eight dolphins in the world that are known to seek
out the company of humans and JoJo is the
most famous of them. Because of their unique
interest in spending time with humans they are known
as lone, sociable, or ambassador dolphins. Dean and
JoJo's relationship is the longest lived
human-dolphin relationship in recorded history.
Dolphins like JoJo grow to eight feet long, weigh
about 250 pounds, and are thought to live to forty
to fifty years or so. Dean estimates JoJo to be
about twenty-five years old. JoJo has a female mate
that Dean named Chenoa and together they have a year
old calf that Dean named JoJo Jr. but he is more
affectionately known as MoJo.
Dean has lived on the Turks and Caicos Islands for
the last twenty years or so and during that time he
and JoJo have played together and explored JoJo’s
underwater world on a nearly daily basis. In the
beginning Dean was working as a dive instructor. An avid ocean swimmer
he would swim out to a reef that JoJo
liked to hang out at and they would spend time
together confronting sharks and exploring caves.
After a while JoJo came looking for Dean. Many times
he would find Dean kneeling on the ocean floor
teaching a group of student divers. JoJo would hover
behind Dean watching and waiting for him to finish
teaching his class so they could play.
However he soon became bored and tired of waiting
for Dean and he would start his disruptive antics. At
first he would swim through the class and bump into
the students. Then there was the time that he
brought a sea turtle into the group but his greatest
success was when he brought a shark and let it go in
the middle of the class. Of
course chaos ensued with students popping to the
surface and swimming madly for shore.
But still the classes continued until JoJo finally
figured how to get Dean’s complete attention. While
Dean was instructing his class JoJo would grab his
air supply hose and swim away with him! Before
entering the water Dean would tell his class, “If
the dolphin takes me away just stay put. I’ll be
right back.”
As JoJo’s popularity increased internationally so
did the number of tourist coming to the Turks and
Caicos Islands and Dean was eventually working full
time to keep JoJo occupied so that the classes could be held
without interruption.
From then on their friendship deepened. They
experienced adventure, fear, and humor as JoJo
taught Dean about his world, its beauty and its
dangers. In turn Dean taught JoJo about our world
and its many dangers. Today Dean
knows JoJo to be his closest friend.
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