Story by Lilly Behbehani
Photo by Allyson Rabon
Emerald Isle, N.C. – Barbie LeBrun stood at the shoreline, looking out the horizon as she waved her arms above her head and called out, “Wahoo-up! Wahoo-up! Wahoo-up!”
Beyond the breakers, a pod of dolphins jumped up a few seconds after her whistle, flapping their tails. Two appeared to be making attempts to invite her into the water, repeatedly riding waves to come closer to the shore then swimming back to the pod.
As she walked down the beach, they swam alongside her in parallel formation and then waved their tails one last time and continued their passage in the ocean.
Since moving to Emerald Isle eight years ago, LeBrun has become known as the “dolphin lady” or “dolphin whisperer.”
“I don’t call myself that,” LeBrun said. “I do communicate with the dolphins through whistles, sounds and sign language, but I don’t speak dolphin language. They recognize me. I can be out in Beaufort or Shackleford Banks and they remember me.”
The first time neighbor Sally Rich heard LeBrun attempt to communicate with dolphins, she thought there was someone who needed help on the beach.
“When no emergency vehicles arrived, I walked outside and saw Barbie standing at the water’s edge, waving her arms, continuing to sing and call out,” Rich said. “There were several dolphins circling, splashing, swimming back and forth close to the shore in front of her.”
On a family vacation to Wilmington, N.C., in 2014, LeBrun was enjoying the water with her son on their body boards, when he suddenly stopped talking and began looking at something behind her.
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A shark was headed straight toward them. Before panic set in, another fin appeared and the dolphin circled the shark, stopping its path and allowing the LeBruns to get out of the water.
“It was the first time that I came to realize their intelligence,” she said. “It was taking the risk to sacrifice itself for two human beings. And I just thought that was amazing.”
A year later, LeBrun was going through a rough patch in her life after moving from Sanford to Emerald Isle. She found herself thinking about the incident with the dolphins.
“I talked to God about the dolphins and I basically said to him, ‘if you keep bringing the dolphins to me, and if I can get them to love me, I will share that with people like how you’ve done for me,’” she said. “And so he did.”
Though the dolphin’s curiosity in her noises and motions was immediate, it took a month of repetitive vocal interactions, sign language and repeated eye contact with the dolphins for them to react, she believes. The first time a dolphin responded to her call, she was in awe.
“As we were developing a relationship, I just gave God all the praise,” she said. “I don’t know how else to say that. I really felt it was a God thing.”
She credits the strong bond with the dolphins to her daily commitment of being present on the shore without invading their space. She believes they’re able to recognize her immediately, even when she’s not in her normal spots. She records each experience or sighting in a brown leather bound journal, down to the time and day.
Soon, almost every pod that passed by her house began to acknowledge her when she called out or whistled, she said. She attributes this to the dolphins ability to speak with each other and believes they possibly talk about her.
One year after the first pod of dolphins responded to her, she went to visit family in Navarre Beach, Florida. Sitting out on the dock, she noticed a familiar looking pod of dolphins out in the water.
“I’m thinking to myself, well, that looks just like the pod I have at home with the two juveniles. And I thought, ‘There’s no way, right?’” she said. “I went ahead and gave my call. And the baby leapt out of the water, and then two came right up to me at the dock.”
Research found that dolphins keep decades long social memories – the longest social memory ever recorded for a non-human species. In the study conducted by the University of Chicago’s Department of Comparative Human Development, dolphins can recognize their old tank mates’ signature whistles after being separated for more than 20 years.
“This shows us an animal operating cognitively at a level that’s very consistent with human social memory,” Dr. Jason Bruck told UChicago News.
LeBrun, 59, still feels surprised by the dolphins’ capabilities each time she sees them, as those who see her on the beach calling out often are.
“Some people think I’m crazy,” she said. “They’ll walk the beach on their phone with headphones in, looking at shells and not looking out at the ocean. They’ll hear me make a call, whistle, or clap my hands and they think I’m crazy because they don’t see the dolphins.”
“Barbie is becoming a legend,” Rich said. “One has to actually see it to believe the amazing interaction shared between the dolphins and Barbie. Resident neighbors and returning summer seasonal visitors ask, ‘Have you seen any dolphins? Is Barbie here, or, is the Dolphin Lady here?’”
LeBrun’s schedule has been affected by a recent cancer diagnosis. She’s often driving to Raleigh for treatment or doctor appointments. She said she noticed the dolphins didn’t forget her, but they don’t come around as much anymore.
“I think they’re still looking for me,” she said. “They’re probably wondering why I’ve changed my pattern. But it’s not because I wanted to.”
As she takes time to heal, LeBrun said whenever she can, she’ll try to go by the water to do her special three-word call to let her friends know she’s home.
