Tião () was a solitary male

bottlenose dolphin The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus ''Tursiops''. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bot ...

that was first spotted in the town of São Sebastião in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

around 1994 and frequently allowed humans to interact with him, having a particular preference to interacting with female humans. The dolphin later killed a swimmer and injured many others, which later earned him the nickname ''killer dolphin''. The dolphin first started to receive public attention in March 1994, when he started to visit the

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

almost daily, frequently following boats. The locals named him Tião, which is a common nickname for the Portuguese male given name Sebastião. The name was a reference to the town in which he was first spotted. After several months, the animal moved north to a local beach, where he frequently got close to bathers and interacted with them. Tião quickly became popular and on occasion over thirty people would be in the water with the dolphin at the same time, sometimes trying to grab hold of his pectoral and dorsal fins to have him drag them through the water. Harassment of the dolphin started to take ever more serious forms, from people attempting to restrain the dolphin to have their picture taken with him, to trying to stick an ice cream cone in his blowhole and attempting to pour

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

into his mouth. Tião started to resist the harassment and by November 1994, 28 people had been taken to hospital. When in December 1994 two male swimmers, Wilson Reis Pedroso and João Paulo Moreira, were harassing and possibly attempting to restrain Tião, in a beach of

Caraguatatuba Caraguatatuba, widely known by its abbreviation ''Caraguá'', is a city in the eastern part of the southern state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 123,389 (2020 ...

, the dolphin broke the

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

s of Pedroso and killed Moreira, who was later found to be drunk. After this incident, the dolphin briefly left but returned to the beach in January 1995. In order to prevent retaliation, a public education campaign was set up. Tião remained at the town for a few more months but finally left for good during the summer of that year, most likely having rejoined a pod, though some still speculate he may have been killed out of revenge.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tião Individual animals in Brazil Individual dolphins Individual wild animals Solitary dolphins

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