I like how Pliny starts out with valid emotional perceptions of dolphins, transitions to a few believable factoids about them, and by the end of the article is basically just spreading myths and rumors.
Goes to show that nothing under the sun is new, not even Buzzfeed.
Pliny was trying to be comprehensive by communicating all that was believed about a subject, whether verified or not.
In fact, given the limitations on travel and communications at the time, it was rarely practical to confirm the stories communicated by people (sailors, for example) who had reported phenomena. Even things which are correct in his account were as difficult to verify as the untrue ones.
In the age of instantaneous communication, Buzzfeed authors can verify most things relatively simply, they just choose not to.
> "For this reason it is that they all recognize in a most surprising manner the name of Simo and prefer to be called by that rather than by any other"
Although, to be honest, I have an urge to go to a zoo and call a dolphin Simo now.
Goes to show that nothing under the sun is new, not even Buzzfeed.