$Michael was a 42+ year old spotted dolphin.
For context, that is extremely old for a dolphin.
For years scientists tracked him across the West Florida Shelf.
A small signal moving across a very large ocean.
Every day the dot moved.
Until today.
The tracker stopped.
The app says there are many possible explanations:
• the battery died
• the tracker fell off
• marine growth blocked the signal
All reasonable.
But Michael was also 42 years old.
Which means the most likely explanation
was always the simplest one.
People will speculate.
People will ask what happened.
Threads will appear explaining dolphins.
But anyone who saw the number already knew.
Michael lived a long dolphin life.
And this ending
was inevitable.
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