A playful dolphin in Australia that appears to prefer human company to other dolphins has surprised wildlife experts after frolicking with swimmers and surfers at some of Sydney, Australia’s most popular beaches. The two-year-old female bottlenose dolphin has approached people in the water and spent hours playing with them, even if they showed little interest. It has allowed people to touch it and popped up around surfers, sometimes grabbing their leg ropes or jumping over their boards. “She goes out of her way to swim with people,” Peter Bergman, a national parks ranger, told Fairfax Media.“She will come right up to them. Late last week she appeared next to a surfer, tugged on his leg rope, threw seaweed in the air at him, she jumped over his surfboard and caught waves with him. ”The dolphin was first noticed by rangers about eighteen months ago in an incident which may have caused it to become attached to humans. It was stranded on a sandbank south of Sydney and was freed by rangers after becoming separated from its pod.